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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Soccer Home Opener Highlights Princeton Invitational This Weekend
September 16, 2009 | Men's Soccer
PRINCETON, N.J. (9/16/09) - After two weeks of competition, the Princeton men's soccer team will play its home opener on Friday, Sept. 18 against Fairleigh Dickinson at 7:30 p.m.
The game will be part of the Princeton Invitational, which also features Monmouth and Cornell.
Cornell and Monmouth will play the first game of the invitational on Friday at 5 p.m., followed by the Princeton/FDU game. On Sunday, Cornell will take on FDU at 12 p.m., followed by Princeton's contest with Monmouth at 2:30 p.m.
Princeton leads the all-time series with Fairleigh Dickinson, 12-5-1. The Tigers have won the last two meetings with the Knights, including a 2-1 victory last season.
The Tigers are receiving votes in two national polls, the NSCAA and the College Soccer News polls. The Tigers enter the weekend, as one of two unbeaten teams in the tournament, with a 3-0 record. Princeton knocked off Lehigh, 1-0, to start the season and followed up with a 3-2 win over Seton Hall. A 3-0 win over nationally-ranked American on Friday, Sept. 11, was Princeton's last time out on the pitch. Junior defender Josh Walburn leads the team in scoring, tallying four of the Tigers' seven goals and all three game winners. Sophomore Antoine Hoppenot collected two goals and freshman Matt Sanner has one. Junior goalkeeper Sean Lynch has played all 270 minutes and has allowed just two goals on six chances for a 0.67 goals against average and a .750 save percentage. In addition to its offense, Princeton is holding opponents to just 2.67 shots on goal per game.
Fairleigh Dickinson is 2-2 on the season. The Knights began the season with home victories over Manhattan and Hofstra before dropping both games at the Cal State Northridge Tournament. Paul King and Dominic Reinold lead the team in scoring with seven and six points, respectively. King has three goals, two of which were game winners, and one assist, while Reinold has two goals and two assists. Cristian Vasconez has two points, while Chris Faraone has one. Majdi Zaineh has been the team's only goalkeeper and has a 1.50 goals against average and a .714 save percentage.
Princeton leads the series with Monmouth, 3-1-1. The Hawks won their only meeting in the series last year, a 1-0 victory.
Monmouth is ranked nationally in all four polls, it highest ranking being No. 16 in the Soccer America poll.
Monmouth enters the weekend with a 5-0 record and is currently ranked in the national polls. Monmouth and Princeton have two similar opponents, Seton Hall and American. The Hawks defeated Seton Hall and American by matching 1-0 scores. Ryan Clark has seven points off of two goals and three assists, while Ryan Kinne has two goals and one assist for five points. Chase Barbieri and RJ Allen have four and three points, respectively, and five other players have scored goals. The Hawks have outscored their opponents 11-2 and have limited teams to 15 shots on goal. Goalkeeper Bryan Meredith has a stingy 0.40 goals against average and an .867 save percentage to go along with three shutouts.
Live stats will be available for all four games, and both of Princeton's games will be webstreamed on GoPrincetonTigers.tv.