BIG BEN: Princeton University men’s soccer goalie Ben Hummel stretches out to thwart a foe in a game last season. Last Friday,  6’6 Hummel stood tall, making two saves as Princeton rallied to beat St. John’s 2-1 in its season opener. In upcoming action, the Tigers head south to play at Florida Gulf Coast University on September 10 and at Florida International on September 12. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As the Princeton University men’s soccer team hit the field at St. John’s last Friday evening in its season opener, the players were anxious to see where they stood.

“I think the guys were pretty excited to get going, I don’t think anyone on the team had beaten St. John’s; we tied them last year,” said Princeton head coach Jim Barlow.

“We knew it was an important game to get started with. I think everyone felt confident going in that we were further along in preseason than we had been in the last couple of years and they were ready to see what it looked like against a good team.”

Things didn’t look so good for the Tigers in the early going as they were outshot 5-2 by the Red Storm and trailed 1-0 at halftime.

“I think St. John’s had a lot to do with that, they really played direct in the first half,” said Barlow.

“They moved a couple of their midfielders as high as they could, they played a lot of long balls to try to get in behind us. It was something we weren’t completely expecting. It took 15 or 20 minutes to sort that out. There were a couple of scary moments where we worried they would get behind us. We figured it out as the half went on, we dropped a midfielder to help with those first long balls so we weren’t always isolated one on one across the back line.”

At halftime, Barlow and his staff stressed ball movement. “The halftime message was that we needed to get the midfield more involved with the ball and we couldn’t shy away from making difficult passes, even if was a little faster or a little tighter than we were used to,” said Barlow.

“We needed Bryan Costa, Jeremy Colvin, John Kendall, Dan Bowkett, and our wide guys, Nico Hurtado and Brendan McSherry, to keep demanding the ball and not just play casually across the back and just launch one forward. We thought because St John’s was committing a lot of people forward that we actually had room to get forward and be dangerous in the midfield.”

Princeton proved to be very dangerous in the second half, outshooting St. John’s 12-3 and tying the game on a Nick Badalamenti goal at the 69:32 mark and them notching the game winner when Thomas Sanner found the back of the net with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.

“It was good to see us respond the way we did; I think we wore them out a little bit with our pressure in the second half and our ability to keep them pinned in and get them chasing a little bit,” said Barlow.

“We did find a way to get chances. Thomas Sanner had a good look, Bowkett had a good look, and Colvin had a good look. Nico had a one-on-one on the keeper that he didn’t put away. We were getting a little frustrated with our finishing.”

Freshman midfielder Colvin looked tough all over the field, producing some crunching tackles and getting an assist on Badalamenti’s goal.

“Colvin covers a lot of ground, he is a big, physical presence and he is really athletic,” said Barlow.

“We were trying to get him to stay a little higher when we were in possession in the second half. He had a very good game, he committed a few too many fouls. He needs to do the physical game without committing fouls. Other than that I thought he was really solid.”

The Tigers were solid collectively on set pieces. “For our guys to get two goals on restarts was a good sign,” said Barlow.

“We talked a lot in preseason about wanting to win the restart battles and the guys did well on corner kicks, keeping the ball alive and getting dangerous.”

Senior striker Sanner battled hard all evening long. “It was good to get him off to a good start,” added Barlow of Sanner, who scored eight goals last season.

“Besides the goal, I thought he had a very good game. He was athletic, he got into spots where he held the ball up for us. I think he battled on the physical end.”

At the defensive end, senior goalie Ben Hummel came through in some big spots for the Tigers.

“I thought Hummel in goal had a great game, he made a couple of big saves when he was called on,” said Barlow.

“But he also covered a lot of the box on long balls and crosses, he was very quick to be off his line for the early balls behind him. I thought it was a good start for Ben, he looked confident. It wasn’t an easy environment with so many people behind the goal heckling him.”

In Barlow’s view, his squad looked good overall. “It is hard to really separate too many other guys, I thought everyone was solid,” said Barlow.

“Everyone had moments where things were going well and still had things they can improve on as well.”

With Princeton having lost some tough road games early last fall, Barlow saw the come-from-behind win as a key moment for his squad.

“It is a good boost to our confidence,” said Barlow. “I think our guys feel like they can go into a difficult place to play and get a result. We will have to do that two more times in Florida before we get home. It was a good way to start our season in terms of our mentality. I think the guys believe that we can have a good team.”

The Tigers will have to play some good soccer to come out of the Florida trip with a pair of wins as they face Florida Gulf Coast University (0-1-1) on September 10 and Florida International (2-2) on September 12.

“They are two good teams that are a little different,” said Barlow. “Gulf Coast has gotten off to a good start, tying Georgetown. They lost 1-0 at Wake Forest over the weekend. They have been a tournament-tested team that is really strong; they beat us here in overtime two years ago. We know that is going to be a really tough test. We are still trying to learn a little more about Florida International, they are always a dangerous team.”