Men's Soccer to Travel to Akron for NCAA First Round

PRINCETON, N.J. — After winning the Ivy League Tournament on Sunday and clinching an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Princeton men's soccer team received its opponent and destination for the NCAA First Round. On Thursday, Nov. 21, Princeton will head to Akron for a 6 p.m. game, with the winner going on to 14th-seeded Indiana for a second-round game on Sunday, Nov. 24.

Princeton and Akron have met three times, most recently in 2005 in a game played at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, N.J., a 1-0 Zips win. The teams met the year before in Akron, a 6-0 Zips win, and met for the first time in 1987 for a 2-0 Tiger win in a game played at Rutgers. Akron, at 11-4-4 on the season, earned an at-large bid after a 2-1 overtime loss to Georgetown in the Big East Tournament semifinals.

This will be Princeton's 12th appearance in program history and its first since 2021. Princeton earned the automatic bid after defeating No. 16-ranked Cornell in the Ivy semifinals on Friday night, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 in double overtime. Nico Nee scored the clutch equalizer while Daniel Ittycheria scored the first goal and the game-winner for the Tigers.

On Sunday, on the home field of No. 12 Penn, the Tigers won the Ivy League Tournament 3-1 in a dominating performance that featured goals from Nee, Ittycheria and Ian Nunez. The title was the program's first Ivy League Tournament championship and won its first Ivy League Tournament in program history.

For their efforts, Ittycheria was named the Ivy League Tournament's Most Outstanding Player while Nee, Jack Jasinski and Giuliano Whitchurch were named to the all-tournament team. Jasinski assisted on three goals across the semifinal and final while Whitchurch was a critical figure in holding down the Tiger backline in both games.

Princeton now looks to capture its first NCAA tournament game win since 1993, when it made the College Cup semifinals.

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