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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn
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Men's Soccer Beats Penn; Wins Ivy League and Punches Ticket to the Dance
November 07, 2010 | Men's Soccer
PRINCETON, N.J. (11/6/10) - The Princeton men's soccer team is the 2010 Ivy League Champion. The No. 16-ranked Tigers earned a 2-1 win over No. 13 Penn in a battle of the undefeated conference teams on Saturday, Nov. 6 on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium.
This is Princeton's first Ivy League championship since 2001.
Princeton extends its consecutive win streak to 11, a feat that has never occurred in a single season in program history. The Tigers improve to 12-3-1 overall and 6-0 in the Ivy League and have secured the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Princeton is the first team in the nation to secure a spot in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
This is also the most wins by the program since 1995 when current U.S. National Team coach Bob Bradley was head coach of the Tigers and guided the team to a 13-5 mark.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute when senior defender Benjamin Burton scored on a header. Senior Teddy Schneider took a corner kick that sailed into box and sophomore Lester Nare flicked a shot towards the net that was redirected by the head of Burton and into the goal.
Penn came out of the locker room and with more motivation and ended up outshooting Princeton 15-4 in the second half, after falling behind in shots in the first half, 10-5.
However it was junior Antoine Hoppenot that would find the back of the net next, giving Princeton a 2-0 lead in the 71st minute. Hoppenot had the ball on the right flank and sent it in the middle to junior Manny Sardinha. Sardinha feed it forward to senior Josh Walburn who sent it back to Hoppenot. Hoppenot broke by his defender and blasted the shot to the right of keeper Ben Berg.
With less than five minutes to play Penn finally was able to get one past Princeton's stingy defense when Thomas Brandt scored in the 86th minute. Christian Barriero set up Brandt for the score to keep the Tigers on their toes in the waning minutes.
Princeton has one final game to play in the regular season, at Yale, on Saturday, Nov. 13. If the Tigers can earn a win over the 3-11-2 New Haven squad that sits in seventh place in the league standings, they will earn the title outright from Penn who is now second in the standings at 5-1 with a contest against Harvard remaining.
The Tigers started the game with numerous offensive opportunities, the first from Hoppenot four minutes in. Berg came out to cut off the corner and Hoppenot stopped and tried to go left but his shot didn't make it on target or to teammate Matt Sanner at the far post and was knocked away by a Penn defender.
A long ball by defender Mark Linnville three minutes later forced Berg to come out of the net to stop an attack by Sanner who was waiting on the doorstep.
Princeton's first shot on goal came in the 18th minute and was taken by Nare when a free kick by Schneider was launched into the box and bounced around before Nare sent it in on frame with a leaping Berg making the stop.
Nare had another chance four minutes later off a scramble on a throw in by Linnville but his shot deflected off of a defender. Walburn had a header on a free kick that went wide a minute later. Walburn's best chance of the half came when he played a give-and-go with Sanner. He sent a through ball to Sanner and got it back but his shot was corralled by Berg in the 26th minute.
Sardinha had an opportunity to score in the 34th minute, just two minutes after subbing into the game. He lofted a long shot from 20 yards out but Berg came up with the stop.
Lynch had to make his only save of the first half in the 44th minute on a shot by Barriero.
In the second half, senior Tim Sedwitz had a chip shot in the 52nd minute that was swallowed by Berg and after that Penn started to take control.
Tobi Olopade had two back-to-back chances. His first was a header that just missed the target on a long throw in by Zach Barnett and his second was a breakaway that was squashed by defender Linnville.
The Quakers best chance was a shot by Loukas Tasigianis in the 68th minute when he went one-on-one with Lynch. Tasigianis blasted a bullet in on goal and Lynch sent it away with outstretched hands.
Berg finished the game with six saves as Penn falls to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in league play. Lynch stopped two shots for Princeton.