PU to host Stanford on Friday
By: Justin Feil
Sunday’s scrimmages against the University of Pennsylvania and Mercer County Community College were particularly useful for a Princeton University men’s soccer team that opens the season 7 p.m. Friday at Lourie-Love Field against Stanford University.
The scrimmages a 0-0 tie with Penn and 2-2 tie with Mercer in two 60-minute games gave the Tigers a chance to look at some of their new combinations. Princeton needed an early look at its team in game situations as it will take on the Cardinal just eight days after opening preseason practices.
"I’m not worried about it," said Princeton’s Jame Wunsch. "Practices have been going well and guys have been clicking."
The senior captain is one reason that the Tigers are confident that they can get off to a fast start. Wunsch returns to the defense after being named first-team All-Ivy and second-team Mid-Atlantic Region. He will lead a veteran defense that allowed just six goals in seven Ivy contests last year.
"We lost a lot but we also have a lot of guys back, especially defensively," said PU head coach Jim Barlow. "If that part can come together quickly, we can be in position to win games. Jame Wunsch, he’s in his fourth year back there. We have other guys like Matt Kontos and Robbie Morgenroth are back. Zach Schwarz and Pat Farrell can play back there too. From a defending standpoint, we can continue to build on them.
"We’ll see how some of the new attacking guys are doing. They should feel some security behind them. We’re hoping that’s a strength of ours with a lot of guys in the back returning."
The 11th-year coach is confident that Wunsch’s example and play is a perfect starting point for the Tigers. Wunsch has started all 51 games of his Princeton career and has the ability to carry the team.
"He’s got so many tools that make up a great center back," Barlow said. "He’s athletic. He’s got good vision. He sees a lot. He has good instincts defensively. He can also save the day when you need him to save the day. He can run and get back. He’s a great tackler. He also wins everything in the air. He’s a very complete soccer player. He’s able to make the players around him better."
Wunsch is hoping that happens sooner than later. Princeton got off to a slow start last year but came on toward the end for a 3-3-1 mark in the Ivy League and a 6-8-3 record overall. Wunsch is feeling good about the Tigers’ chances to better those records.
"One of the differences with the team is everybody is clicking a lot faster this year," he said. "People got to know the way people played a lot faster. (Barlow) can throw people in and we’ll play at the same level. We’re a lot deeper. Guys can play at a lot of positions and the level of play is not going to drop. It’s going to elevate. Last year, we had one or two subs that came in. This year, we have a lot of confidence that they can bring the level up. Our experience in the back is going to help us out. I’ve been playing with Matt and Robbie for two years. That’s going to be a big help."
Princeton will come off its opener against Stanford, take one day off and then play at Loyola 1 p.m. Sunday. They open Ivy play Sept. 23 at Yale, their traditional regular-season finale. With the NCAA moving up the men’s tournament one week, the schedule is more compact this year. That time crunch gives the Tigers less time to figure out how they’ll fill the holes left by graduation.
"We need to find several ways to create goals," Barlow said. "We lost Darren Spicer, our leading scorer for the last three years, so we’ll need to find some goal scoring. We also graduated a goalie who played every minute last year. We have two who are talented, but we need to find out how Justin Oppenheimer or Joe Walter plays. We’ll see how they’re doing in the preseason."
Wunsch has been able to see first-hand how those in front of him and the goalies behind him are playing. He’s had the chance to go head-to-head with the developing offense and his experiences give him confidence.
"The one thing I’ve noticed is they’re great at moving off the ball," he said. "It’s extremely hard to keep track of the two forwards and even our center mid. They’re real quick guys. It’s one of the biggest things they have going for them. We should have a lot of chances with those guys getting behind the defense and getting balls slipped through. Those three play very well together Devin (Muntz) who’s a very good freshman, Tom McHugh who I think will be our key guy up front, and Jay Adams is a good sophomore coming back. He started to play a lot at the end of last year. All of them are gritty guys. They’re going to get in on those 50-50 balls. I have all the confidence in the world in them."
Wunsch also knows he and the defense can make it easier on the less experienced forwards. If the only pressure on the offense is to score a single goal each game, the defense will have done its job.
"The biggest thing we have going for us is the team chemistry," Wunsch said. "We put some real nice plays together (Sunday). One of the biggest things this year is whether we’re going to put goals in the net. Hopefully I’ll get chance to come up on free kicks and corners. I’ll put pressure on myself to score a few goals. That’s a real key to the season, if we can get goals.
"If we can keep the score line at zero, it takes that pressure off the guys up the field," he added. "They’ll be more relaxed and more creative, not just trying to get a goal and not just looking at the clock. I said about it being important that we score goals, but the most important thing is we not give up goals."
Wunsch and the Tigers got their first look at the team against an outsider Sunday. It was a chance to move people around the field and get a feel for the best lineup.
"We picked up on a lot of things," Wunsch said. "We realized what we can do and a few things we need to work on."
Princeton has just three days of practice to iron out those wrinkles and build on the positives before taking on Stanford. The Cardinal will have played two games by then and had a few more chances to smooth their game plan.
"So much of college soccer success is from what happens right in front of both goals," Barlow said. "We’ll see who steps up."
At one end, the Tigers have some question marks with a young offense. At the other, they have a defense led by Wunsch. The four-year starter wants to make sure he can do as much as possible for both ends and for the Tigers chances in 2006.
"There is definitely a little more responsibility on me for the outcome of games," he said. "If we don’t get a good result, I feel it’s a little more on my shoulders."
And when the Princeton men’s soccer team does get a good result, Jame Wunsch certainly will have a hand in it.