PU has experience, depth on its side
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
A lot of familiar faces returned in the preseason for the Princeton University men’s soccer team, but Jim Barlow sees a difference on them.
”I think the guys are hungry from two years in a row of being one game away from winning the league,” said the Tigers head coach who begins his 19th year at the helm. “I think they can feel this group has a lot of potential.”
Princeton finished last year 7-9-1 overall, but was 4-2-1 in the Ivy League. Penn went 5-1-1 for first and Harvard was 5-2. Princeton’s losses were to Penn and Harvard, each by one goal and the Tigers had all offseason to think about how close they came, and that motivation fueled them in preparing for this year.
”So far, so good,” Barlow said. “The guys came in fit, they came in pretty sharp. There are guys banged up, but we’re probably a little more healthy this year at this point. We’re optimistic. We think we have a good core group of senior leadership. We have a lot of experienced guys back.”
Princeton will lean on some strong veterans as it looks to go after the Ivy League championship. The Tigers have good player at every level that will help form a strong nucleus.
”I do think we have really important guys in each part of the field, and experienced pieces in each part of the field,” Barlow said. “We’re especially experienced up front. Getting goals is a problem for every team. We have guys in the attack that are pretty special, and able to make something out of nothing.”
The Tigers return a pair of high scoring All-Ivy forwards in Cameron Porter and Thomas Sanner. Porter was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection as a junior last year after leading the league with 21 points on nine goals and three assists. Sanner is a junior who was first-team All-Ivy as well. He was second to Porter in scoring on the team, fourth in the league. He is former Ivy Rookie of the Year.
The Tigers are happy to have back in the mix Julia Griggs, a senior who missed all but five games last year with injuries. He started his first seven games as a sophomore, but also ended that year injured. He was an All-Ivy honorable mention recipient as a freshman. Nico Hurtado started 11 games last year and returns for his junior year after being fourth on the team in scoring.
”Julian was injured last year, but he looks strong,” Barlow said. “Cameron is back and was first-team all-Ivy. Hurtado is looking good. And Sanner is back, so we have four legitimate forwards that have proven they can score and set up goals. Now they all have experience. There’s some excitement in terms of our attack. We think our guys up the field can make things happen.”
The dynamic potential of the offense gives the Tigers a good starting point. Princeton doesn’t have to play perfectly to score goals. They are dangerous just by virtue of the sort of players that they can put up front.
”I think one thing you will notice with our team is these guys get goals in different ways from past teams,” Barlow said. “Past teams have had to be sharp with their passing. These four guys — we want to still do that (be good passing) — but they can get chances on their own. They can beat guys with their speed. They can get chances in the air, they’re big, athletic guys. One unique aspect is their variety of ways that they can get dangerous.”
Supporting them is a midfield that has a strong group of candidates working for playing time. Regardless of who ends up where in the midfield, Barlow is confident that they can be a huge asset to the team.
”Midfield looks pretty strong,” he said. “We’re still trying to figure out who’s going to play where. Brian Costa (an honorable mention All-Ivy player) was in the midfield last year and did good job of sitting deep. Brendan McSherry (third on the team in scoring last year) has played an awful lot in his first couple years and he has come in strong. Bryan Windsor was injured most of last year and came on strong at the end. He’s a really good passer and can spring our forwards. Myles McGinley (one of Princeton’s three captains) was a first-team All-Ivy guy. He can play centrally or wide on the right. Andrew Doar, a junior, also is a wide guy.
”We also have several freshmen who are looking pretty solid in the midfield. And we have some guys that haven’t seen a lot of playing time that are making a bid to get more time. Vikram (Pothuri) had a high ankle sprain and missed most of the spring, but he’s had a good first few days of camp. At the end of the day, I think we’ll have some depth. We have some battles going on, but we’ll have some honest, blue collar midfielders when we start.”
As dynamic as the Tigers are up front, they have a wealth of experience and leadership in the back. Andrew Mills is a senior tri-captain, while junior Josh Miller comes off a first-team All-Ivy season and has been named Ivy League Preseason Defender of the Year by Fred Welser’s College Sports Madness.
”Andrew Mills is one of our senior captains, and when he hasn’t been injured, he’s been good back there,” Barlow said. “He’s healthy now. He’s one of the leaders back there, he and Josh. They’ve established themselves as anchors back there.
”Joe Saitta can play on the left side in the back or the middle. There’s sophomore Patrick Barba, who played some at the end of last year. He had a stress fracture and missed spring. Mark Romanowski looks more assertive and looks like more of a presence. He’s off to a good start.”
Into that mix, Barlow is hoping to augment his depth with some from his freshman class. They don’t get many practices to impress before the season opener Sept. 5 against Fairleigh Dickinson University.
”It’s a little too soon to tell,” Barlow said of which freshmen will impact the Tigers the most. “When you have a veteran team with a lot of guys returning, it’s not going to be easy for those guys to come in and make a claim to a part of the field. I think the whole group is starting to catch on and getting their feet wet and jumping right into it. We’ll see in the next few days how we do in the scrimmages.”
Barlow’s side was scheduled to take on a Canadian squad Winstars last Wednesday and its final tune-up was to be against Ivy foe Columbia last Friday.
”We have FDU next Friday night,” Barlow said. “There’s a lot of objectives with scrimmages. Guys are still trying to win positions, trying to show what they have to offer in different parts of the field. We have to establish our shape, the kind of tactics we might take from last year’s team, how we’ll move around the field, who’s going to take care of responsibilities. It’s extremely difficult when have only 12 days to put these pieces together to make sure you’re as ready as possible for that first game.
”FDU had a great season and a great run in NCAA tournament. If we get off to a good start, it sets the tone for the season.”
Last year’s 3-0 loss to FDU was a wake-up call that things weren’t as far along as they needed to be for the Tigers. They built through the non-conference schedule to make a strong run at winning the Ivy title.
”It helps that last year at this time, everyone felt confident at this point and we went to FDU and got beaten badly,” Barlow said. “I think that’s helped make the urgency to make the most of every session better. I think the guys have approached the training with a professional training attitude. That experience will hopefully go a long way in helping us know what to expect next Friday.”
FDU is just the first test in a season that has plenty of challenge available for the Tigers. It also has opportunity as Princeton preps for the Ivy contests.
”The non-conference will have some great tests to it,” Barlow said. “We were originally going to Creighton, but they changed leagues and now they have a league game that date. We picked up Boston University and Binghamton, which will be two good tests. FDU, Rutgers, Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall, American, I think we have a really strong out of conference schedule.
”Last year, we did well in the league, but struggled out of the league. That puts more pressure on you to win your league to make the NCAAs. We don’t want to shy away from our schedule. We have a lot of really good home games — Georgetown on ESPNU, St. John’s, Rutgers, Harvard, Dartmouth and Penn.”
The Tigers are hoping that their experience and hunger surface quickly this season. Once the Ivy season starts, they want to be playing well and establish some momentum for a post-season trip.
”The league is so tight,” Barlow said. “Playing every team only once, it makes everything on the line every game. It comes down to little things here and there. It’s crazy to look at how Penn and Brown finished at the top after finishing at the bottom two years ago. It’s a wide open race.
”A lot of it comes down to taking care of things off the field, being healthy, getting hot at the right time,” he added. “Some of the best teams we’ve had, the training sessions have been as tough as the games. There’s been the same intensity. So far, I like the kind of chemistry and the attitude that the guys have come into camp with.”