The Big Green men's soccer team started its defense of last year's Ivy League title with a hard-fought and well-earned 1-0 overtime defeat of the Princeton Tigers at Chase Field.
The Tigers (3-4-1, 0-1-0 Ivy), who finished second to Dartmouth in the 2004 Ivy League standings, never looked like they stood a chance and were lucky not to concede in the first half. Co-captains P.J. Scheufele '06 and Scott Darci '05 both missed good chances in the first half, and so did substitute Andrew Quigley '08, whom was denied by Princeton keeper Bobby Guelich. Even though they outshot their opponents 11-2 in the first half, the Big Green players were unable to convert any of the chances they created and had to withdraw for halftime with two zeroes on the scoreboard. "Especially in the first half, I thought we played pretty well," said head coach Jeffrey Cook. "We created enough chances for winning three games, we just didn't finish them," he added.
Princeton returned refreshed for the second half, but it never looked like they would get past last year's First Team All-Ivy keeper Rowan Anders '07. Big Green central defenders Lucas Richardson '07 and Ale Frischeisen '08 managed to neutralize Ivy League player of the week Darren Spicer. The Tiger forward and 2004 Ivy League Player of the Year, who scored three goals in Princeton's last two games, was only allowed to shoot on goal a couple of times, never really threatening Anders.
In spite of creating a number of chances, the Big Green didn't look as threatening until 2004's team-leading striker Mark Limpert '07 and hard-working midfielder Michael Ordonez '08 appeared on the field. They livened up Dartmouth's game, but Guelich was equal to all the Big Green shots on the Princeton goal.
However, even the in-form Tigers keeper could do nothing 3:27 into the first overtime. Matt Carroll '09 stole the ball at midfield and advanced well on the right. His low-driven cross skipped past a group of players around the penalty spot and found the onrushing Ordonez just inside the area. Without waiting, the left midfielder shot the ball low into the net, past the desperate efforts of Guelich, for his second goal of the season. "I never thought we were in danger of actually losing the game. Even teams that pay millions and millions of dollars for star players have trouble scoring, so we just needed to continue creating chances and we knew the goal would come," said Cook afterwards, commenting on the 22-7 shot tally.
After playing three games over the last nine days, the Big Green will be hosting Oneonta State on Wednesday, October 5 at 4:00 pm at Chase Field. However, Cook was not worried about the packed schedule. "One of the qualities of our team is that we have great depth, and there are a lot of players that are ready to come in," he commented. Dartmouth's next Ivy League encounter is next Saturday away at Yale.
