Streaking PU left out of NCAAs
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
On Thursday, the NCAA tournament got under way without the Princeton University men’s soccer team.
The Tigers would have liked the chance to showcase how they had gone 8-0-1 down the home stretch to put themselves in consideration for a spot in the 32-team field, but the tournament selection committee appeared to go strictly by RPI ranking and Princeton’s rank of 41 wasn’t high enough to merit a bid, though their strong finish and share of the Ivy League championship with Dartmouth put them in a strong position.
”It’s a little disappointing not getting in, but we couldn’t have asked our players to do a lot more,” said PU assistant coach Steve Totten. “Going 11-3-3 and winning the Ivy League was good. Right now, it hurts. But, for sure, it was a good season.”
Princeton would have been a dangerous team had they been rewarded for their surge since Oct. 4 when they lost, 2-1, to Ivy co-champ Dartmouth in overtime to fall to 3-3-2.
”After starting the way that we started, we had a meeting and told the team if there was any chance for us to win the Ivy League and make the NCAA, we had to win out,” Totten said. “We had to do something special. The players took control of the meting and spoke their mind and decided no matter what happens, we were going to get the results. You had the feeling they were going to get it done. The biggest thing was the collective belief we were going to win.”
The Tigers had the longest unbeaten streak of any team in the nation to close the regular season. Princeton rolled through Rutgers and Loyola and American outside of the Ivies, and only a 1-1 tie at Columbia kept them from winning their remaining five Ivy contests.
”In the beginning of the year, one big thing was that Josh Miller was injured,” Totten said. “He was a first-team defender as sophomore. We were trying to figure out how to play without him. We tried playing with a different guy in the back.
”The game with Georgetown had us change things. We switched how played against BU. We went to four in the back and Cameron Porter up top by himself. We were down, 2-0, and tied it 2-2 and thought we should have won it.”
Miller returned in the 3-1 loss to then-No. 13 Georgetown, and the Tigers started to take their shape over the next week after tying Boston University. Princeton inserted Mark Romanowski at center back after they played Dartmouth and the pieces fit.
”Then, we had some momentum going into the next few games,” Totten said. “One was Dartmouth. It was an even game and maybe if we had a couple more games under our belt playing that way, we might have found a better result. They were a good team and it was an even game and they made one play in overtime and that ended up being the difference.”
Dartmouth earned the Ivy’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by virtue of its head-to-head win over Princeton. On Wednesday, the Ivy League paid homage to the Tigers with seven All-Ivy picks, more than any other team, and that was with a few snubs including second-leading scorer Thomas Sanner and dangerous attacker Nico Hurtado.
Porter was named the Ivy Offensive Player of the Year unanimously. He leads the NCAA in points, points per game, goal and goals per game. He was twice named national Player of the Week. Junior midfielder Brendan McSherry and junior defender Josh Miller were also named Ivy first-team selections. Senior defender Andrew Mills was a second-team pick, and senior defender Joe Saitta, senior midfielder Myles McGinley and junior goalkeeper Ben Hummel were honorable mention selections after helping guide the Tigers to the brink of an NCAA appearance.
”We were excited for the chance to play in the tournament,” Totten said. “We would have liked to play just about anybody. Our players were excited. Cameron Porter was on fire scoring goals. We weren’t giving up as many goals. Our midfield was more comfortable.”
Everything was in place, except Princeton was left out of the field. Princeton knew it was a bubble team, but had hoped its run would be enough to get in the tournament.
”The way the tournament has worked in recent years, the RPI has been the primary selection tool that the committee uses,” Totten explained. “It’s tough for teams in smaller conferences because so much of that tends to be out of our hands. We thought we scheduled a strong schedule and some teams on our schedule didn’t do as well as they traditionally do. We knew where we were in the RPI, but other things they consider like end of year record we felt good. We went 8-0-1, and we were hoping being co-champions and finishing on such a strong note would give us that bump. They didn’t take a team below 32.”
Princeton’s season ended with that announcement. The league recognized their success with its voting, and the Tigers still earn an Ivy championship banner.
”There are both feelings involved,” Totten said. “You feel great because it is one of only eight Ivy championships in school history. The group has to feel good about that. The last two years before this, we were one win away. A lot of it comes down to being one break away. You have to keep putting yourself in position. They finally found a way to break through.”
The Tigers will be trying to do the same next year. Princeton will graduate nine seniors, including Porter, Mills, McGinley and Saitta. The Tigers will start working toward replacing them in the spring, and they will remember the only thing they could have done to put themselves in a better spot for an NCAA bid was a faster start.
”I do think it’s going to serve as motivation,” Totten said. “This group for sure wants to play in the NCAA tournament. We’re going to be returning a good group of players. We’re returning a lot of players, but the senior class was a special group. They made all the big plays. We need another group to step up and find their place as leaders.”
Princeton will be replacing a senior group that led it within a goal of an outright Ivy title and the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, and helped push them to a share of the conference crown with the best run in the nation.
”We’re excited we got the championship,” Totten said. “The group and the seniors deserve something for their effort.
”The biggest thing we’re playing for is the chance to extend our season and play together again. It was disappointing they weren’t able to show that on the national stage.”