COLD OPEN: Princeton University men’s soccer player Roka Tsunehara dribbles the ball in recent action. Junior defender Tsunehara has helped spearhead the Princeton back line this fall. The Tigers, who fell 1-0 at Dartmouth last Saturday in their Ivy League opener to move to 5-2-2 overall and 0-1 Ivy League, host Yale on October 3. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
As the Princeton University men’s soccer team took the field against Dartmouth last Saturday in the Ivy League opener for both squads, the Tigers knew they were going to get the Big Green’s best shot.
“We have been talking all year that everyone puts the Princeton game on their calendar after the season we had last year,” said Princeton head coach Jim Barlow, whose squad went 15-2-2 overall and 7-0 Ivy in 2025 as it won both the Ivy regular season title and league postseason tournament. “You could tell it was an incredibly important game for Dartmouth as it should be. It is the first Ivy game, it is important.”
Coming into the contest, Princeton was a bit banged up and out of synch offensively.
“It was a rough week, we had a really tight battle with Bryant that took its toll on us, it was an incredibly physical game,” said Barlow, whose team edged Bryant 2-1 on September 19. “I thought we played pretty well against Seton Hall (a 0-0 tie on September 22). We are having a really hard time turning our possessions in the final third into legitimate chances and goals. In the last 20 minutes of the Seton Hall game, we started generating a ton of chances. The shot total was 22-7 but the shots on goal were only 7-6.”
That issue raised its head once again on Saturday as the Tigers outshot the Big Green 11-10 but fell 1-0.
“The thing about Dartmouth is that they have become very difficult to score on but they can also get dangerous very quickly because they have a lot of pace up the field,” said Barlow, whose team moved to 5-2-2 overall and 0-1 Ivy with the defeat. “As the game went on, we felt like we are on top of them for a lot of the game but never felt safe that they couldn’t get dangerous really quickly. As we got into the second half and got a little more desperate to score a goal, the game became a little bit more in the balance because we opened ourselves up a little more to the counter. Then they scored on a counter with five, six minutes left.”
Princeton kept battling after falling behind, generating some good scoring chances down the stretch, including a header by Jackson Martin on goal that was saved, but it couldn’t find the back of the net.
“Our guys compete all of the time, that part is not an issue for us,” said Barlow. “They want to win so badly, they compete really hard. It is just a matter of getting the mindset right. I think against Dartmouth we were a little content at times to possess the ball. Dartmouth was content for us to possess the ball as long as we weren’t getting dangerous. We have to continue the mentality that where we win the ball, we want to try and get to goal with more urgency and not just be OK with having the ball for longer.”
In the wake of suffering its first Ivy loss since falling to Penn on November 9, 2024, the Tigers will bring an even higher sense of urgency into the rest of their league campaign.
“We always talk about the seven Ivy League games like seven finals because all of them could decide if you get into the Ivy League tournament or if you have a chance to win league,” said Barlow. “So we dropped our first final in a while. We are very frustrated with the result.”
The next Ivy test will take place on October 3 when Princeton will host a Yale (2-5-1 overall, 0-0-1 Ivy) squad hungry to avenge a 4-0 loss to the Tigers last season.
“They had a really good result over the weekend, they tied Penn and Penn had been on such a roll,” said Barlow. “I expect another hard-fought, physical, close game that is going to come down to the little details in both boxes. Last year we had arguably our best half of the year in the first half against Yale, we scored four on them. I am sure they are very anxious to get back at us.”