PU soccer opens year on road tonight
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
When the Princeton University men’s soccer team has the ball, you have to pay attention.
Especially if you’re an opposing defender.
”One of the things that makes us unique for college soccer is we do have some special kids up top,” said Princeton head coach Jim Barlow. “A lot of teams have one dangerous guy. We have a few of them. That has us excited. It makes us a fun team to watch. I think we’ll generate chances.”
The Tigers will roll out one of the nation’s most dangerous attacks when they open the 2011 season 7:30 p.m. tonight at The College of Charleston in the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Soccer Classic. Princeton plays Furman noon Sunday in the second game of the tournament.
”It’s two really good teams,” said Barlow, who is in his 16th year at the helm. “It’s a tough environment to play in. We saw that Charleston just beat South Carolina. South Carolina had been ranked 15th. It’s a good atmosphere there. Charleston and Furman are two regulars in the NCAA. I think we’re up for the challenge. They’re two very tough tests.”
Barlow got his first peek at this year’s group in action outside of practice in two 60-minute scrimmages Monday against Columbia and Long Island University. Both scrimmage ended in ties.
”I still think we have some ability to create chances, even when we’re not particularly playing well,” Barlow said. “We can get forward quickly.”
Freshman forward Cameron Porter jumped out with potential to immediately contribute. He had a goal and was taken down in the box once and just outside the box another time for three solid scoring chances.
”He looks dangerous,” Barlow said. “He was a real handful (Monday). He’ll give us even more depth up top than we have already. He’ll be someone defenders have to really worry about.”
Porter could find himself working with senior Antoine Hoppenot and junior Matt Sanner. Sanner was a second-team All-Ivy selection while Hoppenot, a Princeton Day School graduate, was the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2010 and a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy. He begins this year on the Hermann Trophy Watch List and is a first-team preseason All-America pick by College Soccer News and Soccer America.
”Antoine can be the best player on the field at any moment,” Barlow said. “I think he does a pretty good job of not paying attention to the hype. College soccer is getting more press, and he’s become noticed by more people. He was on the Herrmann list, and if you return, you’re going to get some attention. He’s doing well. He’s fast and dangerous. Hopefully, he can have another good year for us.”
Barlow’s concern is getting the ball up the field to his top-flight forwards, and not putting more pressure on his offense by getting in some sort of shootout.
”We’re encouraged by what we see in the attack,” Barlow said. “We’re still trying to figure out the midfield and the back so we can make it so we’re winning the ball higher up the field and creating more chances.”
Among the midfielder candidates that the Tigers used in the Monday scrimmages are: sophomore Dylan Bowman, sophomore Pat O’Neil, senior Colby Hahn and freshmen Myles McGinley and Joe Saitta.
”For us, the thing we’re looking at to make the difference is the midfield,” Barlow said. “We always feel that is a strength and our engine. We lose some key guys in there. We’ll see if we can get the midfield looking like it did in the past with the ability to run the show and keep the team connected.”
The Tigers come off a season in which they made history with an unbeaten Ivy League run that was part of a 12-game winning streak that followed a 1-3-1 start to the year. That year set a new standard for this year’s team to aspire to.
”It’s a mix,” Barlow said. “On one hand, last year’s season gave us a lot of confidence. Guys know what it took to get on that long winning streak and how fortunate we were to get the results we had and how the results hang on the littlest details.
”Our guys going into the spring had some confidence it could carry over. At the same time, it’s clear that there are some really important guys not here anymore. We need some guys to step up and be in more of the leader role as well as their soccer roles.”
Princeton doesn’t want to duplicate its slow start to last season, but they will be up against arguably their toughest schedule ever. They will take on four Big East schools — Villanova, Georgetown, St. John’s and Seton Hall this year.
”And we have Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn and Brown away,” Barlow said. “It’s as tough a schedule as we’ve had.
”Everyone feels like Brown and Penn return most of their teams. Dartmouth also made the Sweet 16 and doesn’t lose much. We thought Columbia was good (Monday) and didn’t lose much. We felt we were fortunate to win last year against them. We thought they outplayed us. The league is strong as usual this year.”
Princeton is still a work in progress. The Tigers are still working themselves into better fitness, and injuries have hampered some of their growth. Princeton, though, doesn’t have any time to waste. The season begins today, with hopes that an exciting offense can help support the brunt of expectations until the rest of the squad is settled.
”If we get some results in these early games and get some confidence, I think it’ll help,” Barlow said. “If we’re struggling after the weekend, we’re not sure. We have some questions. The only way to answer them is to play some games.”