(Photo by Stephen Goldsmith) MIDDLE MAN: Princeton University men’s soccer senior star and captain Devin Muntz boots the ball in a game earlier this season. Muntz ended his superb career on a down note as Princeton fell 1-0 to Bucknell last Thursday in the opening round of the tournament. Tiger head coach Jim Barlow credited fist-team All-Ivy League midfielder Muntz with being a catalyst in a late run which saw the Tigers go 5-0-2 before the loss to the Bison.

PU Men’s Soccer Falls to Bucknell in NCAAs But Senior Star Muntz Thankful for Late Surge

Bill Alden

Coming into this fall, senior midfielder Devin Muntz had experienced plenty of frustration during his career with the Princeton University men’s soccer team.

Although Muntz had earned All-Ivy League recognition in each of his first three seasons, his efforts weren’t enough to keep the Tigers from posting an overall record of 16-27-8 during that stretch.

Midway through this fall, it looked like Muntz was heading for a fourth straight losing campaign as the Tigers fell 4-2 at Brown to drop to 4-5-1.

But with Muntz providing leadership and sparkling two-way play in the midfield, the Tigers caught fire down the stretch, going 5-0-2 to force its way into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001 and earn an opening round home game against visiting Bucknell last Thursday.

For Muntz, making it into the NCAA as a senior was a thrill. “I couldn’t have asked for more, getting into tournament in my last year,” said Muntz.

“I have had a tough three years leading up to this game. This year was a lot of fun; it was a lot of fun because of the guys on the team. I am thankful to them for putting me in the position to be in the tournament.”

Unfortunately for Muntz, he didn’t have a lot of fun in the NCAA tournament as the Tigers fell 1-0 to Patriot Conference champion Bucknell (17-6) to end the season at 9-6-3.

In the first half, the team played to a scoreless draw as they warily tested each other.

Early in the second half, Princeton showed the aggressive play that had marked their hot streak, generating six shots in the first 17 minutes of the period. The game was halted, though, for a 30-minute thunder and lightning delay.

After play resumed, lightning struck for the Bisons as they scored with 20:19 remaining on a goal by Brendan Burgdorf. The Tigers fought valiantly as they outshot Bucknell 22-11 on the evening but never could find the back of the net.

Afterward, a glum Muntz acknowledged that the result amounted to one last disappointment in his Princeton career.

“I wish it had gone differently tonight but it happens,” said Muntz, who had two shots in the game.

Princeton head coach Jim Barlow echoed Muntz’s sentiments. “It is a frustrating result for us,” said Barlow.

“I didn’t think we were as sharp tonight as we have been the last month. Having said that, I still felt like we created enough chances to get a goal or two tonight.”

The Tigers’ ability to be dangerous was hampered by the absence of top scorer Antoine Hoppenot, who was ineligible to play in the game because he had accumulated five yellow cards.

“Antoine does a lot of things really well,” said Barlow of the former Princeton Day School star who led the Tigers with 10 goals this fall in earning first team All-Ivy recognition.

“The thing that helps our team a lot is that he is always a threat to get behind you with his pace. When there is always a threat to get behind, defenses can’t push up as high and we can have more room to play. Today, we didn’t have as much room to play because their back four was able to squeeze higher.”

The weather delay also hurt Princeton as it came when the team was putting the squeeze on Bucknell.

“I thought the second half started to feel like we were getting a hold of things, the crowd was getting into it,” said Barlow.

“If you were at the game Friday (a 4-0 win over Yale), I think the crowd was a big factor for us really getting after Yale. You could feel the energy. I had the same feeling going 10-15 minutes into the second half as it felt Friday night. I thought for sure that some goals were going to come and then the break came and it was kind of dead after the break for a little while. I didn’t think we started off from the break as well as we had finished.”

In reflecting on his team’s stirring finish over the last month, Barlow credited Muntz with being a major catalyst for the Tigers.

“We are going to miss all our seniors but Devin in particular,” asserted Barlow.

“Devin has been a warrior; he never leaves the field. He runs the team. He is the engine that keeps us going both when we have the ball and don’t have the ball. He gets so many plays right. A lot of the success that our forwards had started with Devin winning the ball in the midfield and shoving it forward to someone. Devin had a great year and a great career here.”

Muntz, for his part, took pride in the way Princeton battled to make the season a success.

“There was a time where we actually went below .500,” said Muntz. “It didn’t look good for us but we fought back. We put ourselves in good positions going forward when we won the ball. I think our finishing improved a lot; that never hurts. I think once you lose a couple of games, your head gets down and you forget what it feels like to win. You get a couple of games in a row and you start to feel you can do it again and that definitely happened for us in the middle of the season.”

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