NEE-JERK REACTION: Princeton University men’s soccer player Nico Nee gets ready to boot the ball in a game last fall. Senior forward Nee, who tallied three goals and five assists last season to earn Second-Team All-Ivy League honors, will be looking to produce a big final campaign for the Tigers. Princeton opens its 2024 season by playing at Rutgers on August 30. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

As it went 1-4-2 in Ivy League play last fall, the Princeton University men’s soccer team yielded 3.25 goals a game in its league setbacks.

Looking ahead to the program’s 2024 campaign, which starts on August 30 when Princeton makes the short trip to Rutgers, Tiger head coach Jim Barlow’s top priority is getting sharper play on the back line.

“One of the things we are trying to emphasize is to be a lot more stingy defensively and being hard to score on,” said Barlow, whose squad posted an overall record of 4-8-3 last season. “We felt like we gave up goals when we had more defenders back than they had attackers and teams still found a way to score on us. It was taking breaks, not getting every detail right, not locking in on guys in the box, and getting caught on plays where balls were getting cut back. We were got caught ball watching a few times.”

In Barlow’s view, the best defense could stem from a good offense.

“I think we are going to get our chances,” said Barlow. “We have some pretty athletic and dynamic guys in the attack. We just have to really focus on not getting too stretched out and try to not make it a track meet.”

The one-two punch at forward of junior Danny Ittycheria and senior Nico Nee should create plenty of chances this season. Ittycheria earned First-Team All-Ivy League honors last year as he tallied nine goals and one assist while Nee was a Second-Team All-Ivy selection with three goals and five assists.

“They are both effective in different ways,” said Barlow. “Danny is very fast, good in the air, and looks to go to goal when he gets the ball. Nico is more stocky, he can play with his back to the goal to hold off defenders, buy a little time for his teammates to get up the field and find them with a clever pass. They are both pretty good around the goal too. Both of those guys are very important to us on attack.”

Princeton will feature a number of other guys in attack, including junior Will Francis (4 goals, 1 assist in 2023), senior Harry Roberts, sophomore Bardia Hormozi, sophomore Kevin Kelley (1 assist), and sophomore Ian Nunez (2 goals).

“We have got Will back; Harry is playing up the field now and he led our team in scoring in the spring,” said Barlow. “Bardia is back, he had a really good spring as well. Kevin and Ian are back. There are a lot of guys up the field who are off to a good start in preseason and all of them contending for minutes. Nico and Ian are more likely to play in the middle. Bardia can also play in the middle. Danny, Kevin, Will, and Harry are more wide guys.”

In the midfield, sophomore Liam Beckwith will be leading the way.

“Liam was awesome for us last year as a freshman,” said Barlow. “He is likely going to be getting a lot of minutes as a defensive midfielder. He is the most experienced in there from last year, we expect him to be a really important guy.”

Joining Beckwith in the midfield will be senior James Wangsness, junior Jack Hunt, freshman Garry Zhang, junior Will Travis, and junior Gabe Duchovny.

“Wangsness is in there, he had major surgery and it was a really, really long recovery, he is doing really well,” said Barlow. “Jack has gotten off to a very good start this year, Garry has gotten off to a good start in the middle of the midfield. Will and Gabe have all been contending for minutes in there too.”

Junior Jack Jasinski, who earned Second-Team All-Ivy honors last year in the midfield when he had three assists, will be getting a lot of minutes on the back line this year.

“Jasinski is likely to play wide in the back this year, either the left or the right,” said Barlow. “He played there in the spring for us and he was tremendous. One of the possible solutions to shoring up our defense and making us harder to score on will be having him back there.”

The rest of the Tiger defense will include junior Giuliano Whitchurch (1 assist), junior Stephen Duncan (1 goal), senior Issa Mudashiru, freshman Dash Papez, sophomore Sebastian Swary, junior Ian MacIver, and junior Sam Vigilante (1 assist).

“Giuliano has been a rock back there for a couple of years, Stephen has been really good for us,” said Barlow. “Issa, if he can stay healthy this year, can be good for us back there. Sebastian played some minutes as a center back last year. Dash is a freshman center back who has had a good start to preseason, he is a very athletic guy. Ian and Sam had very good springs for us but they both have early preseason injuries and hopefully we will get them back soon. We have got some options in the back.”

Highly touted freshman Rona Tsunehara, who was recently named to the Preseason All-Freshman Team by TopDrawerSoccer, gives Barlow some options with his talent and versatility.

“Roka is a very interesting guy, as a U-16 player, he was national Player of the Year as a forward,” said Barlow. “Lately he has been playing as a wide defender. We are not exactly sure where he is going to wind up yet. Another wide defender from last year, Sam Vigilante, has been injured in preseason so we have moved Roka back there for preseason and he has done fine back there. I think there is a chance we could see him as a forward or as a defender.”

Barlow likes what he is seeing from his goalie group which includes senior Khamari Hadaway (2.20 goals against average and 45 saves in 2023), senior Will Watson (1.80 goals against average, 21 saves), and sophomore Andrew Samuels.

“Khamari seems to be off to a good start in the preseason,” said Barlow. “Will has played a decent amount too, he is contention. Andrew had a tremendous spring as a freshman, he really has made the battle for that position really interesting. Khamari will likely be the guy against Rutgers.”

While the preseason is a whirlwind with preparation compressed into 12 days before the opener, Barlow believes his squad is in a good place.

“It is always a little bit going in the dark in the first game because it is so new and you are trying to figure things out,” said Barlow. “I feel like the fact that we had a good spring and the fact that we have a lot of guys returning with experience makes us feel like we are little bit further along in figuring out our identity and how we are going to take care of our responsibilities this year. I think we are off to a decent start.”

Barlow is hoping for a strong finish to the Ivy campaign this fall. “I think there are a lot of guys that are in position to help us turn the corner to get back in contention for winning the league this year,” said Barlow. “It will be interesting to see how it comes together. So far there hasn’t been a ton of separation like here is the top group and then the rest of our team. That is great from a depth standpoint but is challenging to figure out what the best combination is going to be.”

This Friday evening, Princeton should figure some things out as it battles local foe Rutgers (1-1).

“It has been a really fun rivalry,” said Barlow. “We expect it to be exciting again too. They are a good, solid team. A lot of their guys know some of our guys from being right down the road. They got off to a good start with a nice win the other day (3-1 over Northeastern on August 22). We are excited to see what it looks like.”