Tigers Set For JMU, Road-Trip to UMass This Weekend

Friday, September 4

Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium

7:00 PM

Princeton University

JMU

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Tigers Set For JMU, Road-Trip to UMass This Weekend

September 03, 2026 | Men's Soccer

#23 Princeton (1-0-1) vs. JMU (1-2)
September 4 (Fri.) | 7 p.m. | Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium
Live Stats | ESPN+

#23 Princeton (1-0-1) vs. UMass (2-1-1)
September 7 (Mon.) | 4 p.m. | Amherst, Mass.
Live Stats | MSP+

PRINCETON, N.J. – Coming off a big upset against No. 3 Portland, the No. 23 Princeton men's soccer team (1-0-1) will host JMU on Friday before heading up to UMass for its first road trip of the season.

The Tigers will face the Dukes on Friday at 7 p.m. in Roberts Stadium before heading to Amherst, Mass. to face the Minutemen on Monday at 4 p.m.

Last Time Out
The Tigers opened up 2026 with a 1-1 draw against Villanova last Friday, before downing then-No. 3 Portland on Monday night in a 2-0 win.

First-year Noah Hammerschmidt scored the breakthrough goal in the 74th minute, with senior Kevin Kelley doubling the Tiger lead minutes later.

Bardia Hormozi, who scored the lone goal on Friday, assisted both goals and now leads the squad with four points.

Senior captain Andrew Samuels took the shutout in goal.

Picking Up Where They Left Off
The Tigers were picked to finish first in the Ivy League Preseason Poll with 14 first-place votes.

The favorite pick comes after a historically successful 2025 season that saw them claim both the Ivy League regular season and Ivy League tournament championship titles. Princeton went 7-0-0 in league play while conceding zero goals, posting an overall record of 15-2-2.

The Tigers were seeded third in the NCAA Tournament, marking the highest seed ever for an Ivy League team. They also led the nation in RPI for a majority of last season.

Ahead of this season, Princeton was ranked eighth in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll. Most recently, the Tigers were ranked 23rd in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll.

Keep An Eye Out
Samuels, 2025 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, returns for his senior season after leading the nation in goals-against, save-percentage and shutouts for most of last season. He was named to the United Soccer Coaches Goalkeepers to Watch List this preseason.

Junior defender Roka Tsunehara was also named to the United Soccer Coaches Defenders to Watch List.

Newcomer Julien Lacher was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Best XI Freshman Team. Samuels joined him in the TDS honors after being named the goalkeeper on the Best XI First Team.

All-Ivy Returners
The Tigers return several 2025 All-Ivy honorees in Samuels, First Team All-Ivy honoree and Ivy Defensive POTY, First Team All-Ivy honoree Hormozi, Second Team All-Ivy honorees Tsunehara and Liam Beckwith, and All-Ivy Honorable Mention Dash Papez.

Samuels and Tsunehara were also United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-Region honorees.

Called Up
An Ivy-record four Tigers were drafted at the conclusion of last season. Hormozi and Samuels were two of the four, with Samuels selected in the second round by St. Louis City SC and Hormozi selected in the second round by Minnesota United FC.

The Tigers graduated first-round pick Giuliano Fravolini Whitchurch, who currently plays with LAFC II, and Jack Jasinski, who was drafted by and currently plays for the San Jose Earthquakes. Two other Tigers from last year's squad are also playing professionally in Sam Vigilante (MNUFC II) and Daniel Ittycheria (Vancouver Whitecaps II).

Captains
Samuels and Beckwith are at the helm of the 2026 squad.

About the Newcomers
Princeton welcomes six talented newcomers in the class of 2030 this season in Viktor Alestig, Lucas Ferreira, Hammerschmidt, Lacher, Chase Miller and Jonah Mwilambwe.

About Coach Barlow
Head coach Jim Barlow is in his 30th season as the men's soccer head coach and has accumulated 238 career wins with the Tigers, the most for any soccer coach in Princeton history, men's or women's. Barlow was also named the 2025 Ivy League Coach of the Year and the 2025 Northeast Region Coach of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches.

He is the ninth longest tenured active head coach in NCAA D1 men's soccer, the longest tenured AHC in Ivy League men's soccer, and the fifth-longest in the Ivy League across all sports.

Scouting JMU
JMU is 1-2 on the season after most recently falling to Radford on the road on Saturday. The Dukes' one win on the season came at home against Gardner-Webb on Aug. 24.

Manuel Lolas leads JMU with two goals on the season so far. Chris Niblock is behind him in points after tallying two assists.

Erik Jaspers has been in goal for all three of the Dukes' games thus far, making 12 saves with a GAA of 1.00 and a save percentage of 80.

The last time the two sides met was last season, when the Tigers drew JMU 1-1 in Harrisonburg, Va.

Scouting UMass
UMass is 2-1-1 on the year, most recently downing UMass Lowell 1-0 at home on Wednesday. The Minutemen defeated then-No. 24 UConn on August 23 before falling 4-1 to Harvard five days later.

Liam Gainey and Thomas Wadas are tied with two goals apiece on the year to lead the squad in scoring and points.

Dean Linden has been between the posts for all four games so far, making 19 saves with a GAA of 1.75.

The Tigers' first meeting against the Minutemen was a year ago in Princeton, where the Tigers got the 2-0 result.