Princeton Men's Soccer Alumni Check-In: Jeff Hare '04

Name, Class, Current Job, Hometown, Family:
Jeff Hare, 04, Trader, I live in Scarsdale N.Y. with my wife Claire and two kids -- Sloane (3) and John (2).

Position played:
Central Defender

Major:
Politics Major

Most memorable game at Princeton. Why?
Most memorable game at Princeton was sophomore year against Indiana at home in front of a sold out Lourie Love Stadium. They were the number 1 ranked team in the country and we played to a 1-1 draw but we clearly had the better run of play and hit the post in overtime. We out-shot them 19-13 and I think we had 11 corner kicks to their 1 if memory serves correctly. This game was also partly responsible for getting the ball rolling on a new stadium after the Indiana coached complained that field prevented them from playing their style of play. The other game that stands out was playing Brown my senior year. There was a free kick the ball bounced out towards the Brown bench and I was running between guys from Brown and we all end going down -- one of them may have been in a headlock. Noonan, the coach of Brown, walks on the field and is yelling at me along with their entire bench when out of nowhere my brother Doug in his orange pinnie comes running onto the field shoving Brown guys out of the way before all hell broke loose. He might be the first player to get a yellow card while not being in the game.

Toughest loss:
Every loss is tough, but sophomore year in the Second Round of the NCAA tournament we lost to FDU, 2-1, after we had beaten them in the regular season. We missed a penalty kick in the second half. The real kicker was the UVA got upset by Seton Hall as well and we had crushed Seton Hall 3-0 earlier in the season everything was setup for a real run in the tournament. Tough way to finish a great season.

Funniest on-field memory during your era:
Funniest on field story has to be freshman year. I think we are playing Seton Hall at home and Jason White gets hurt late in the second half and has to come out of the game. Mike Cohen is the back-up goalie, he comes into the game and within 5 minutes there is a free kick about 25 yards out. The wall is getting setup and he calls out my name I turn to see how he wants to set things up but instead he asks me if I have seen how beautiful the clouds look right now. I can't type what my exact response was but he did his job and helped get us the W, but needless to say I was happy to have Whitey back for the next game.

Best athletes on the team during your era:
The best player of my era would have to be Mike Nugent. Having a guy who can create his own goal is a special talent. Matt Behncke would have to be up there as well -- a big tall German was a monster in the middle of the field.

Most underrated player on the team during your era:
Most underrated player on the team during my era would probably be Matty Douglas or Graeme Rein. Matty Douglas was a quiet guy, especially for a forward, but when he came into games was very effective and skilled offensive player. Graeme Rein was the rock of the defense, he showed up every day and did his job. He told me "Not everyone can play the piano somebody has to carry it." That blue collar mentality is something I tried to follow and we tried to bring to the defensive unit.

Funniest teammate and any examples of what made him funny:
Funniest teammate could go a lot of different ways. My freshman year, Garrett "Big Ball" Bartolotta did not believe in stretching and he would come out everyday to practice put a ball down and try to kick it over the fence on the other side of the field. He also was from California and would constantly use the joke" I just flew in from Cali and boy are my arms tired". Marty Shaw was clearly one of the funniest guys on the team. "Magic" Marty Shaw would always point out you can't spell party without Marty unless you misspell party. Finally, Johnny Chavkin has to be mentioned because he could always get the whole team to laugh. One preseason game, JC was on the sideline guzzling down orange Gatorades when he got the call to go into the game. Within 2 minutes of being on the field right in front of our bench he gets drilled in the stomach by the ball and everyone got a close up look of all the Gatorade again. He also had one of the best on field calls of all time when he said "Paylor can you switch the point of attack when you get a chance please."

Teammates that you regularly stay in touch with:
I try to stay in touch with all the guys that I played with and the guys that played with my brothers. Everyone gets an email from me about sponsoring your number don't be afraid to respond even if you don't sponsor your number.

Message/Advice for the current players:
The message I would give to the current guys on the team is to take advantage of your time now because it goes by so quickly. Those four years you get to be with the team and at school will be over in flash.

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