Princeton faces Cornell with lead in Ivy League
When teams continue to win, they go from one “biggest game of the year” to the next. The Princeton University men’s soccer side is experiencing that excitement this month, as Saturday’s game at Cornell will be its biggest to date this season.
With three games remaining, the Tigers (8-4-2, 3-0-1) lead the Ivy League with 10 points, while the Big Red and Columbia (both 3-1-0) are both second with nine points. Thus, Princeton needs this win to make next week’s game against Penn even bigger. Hopefully for the Tigers, they make the season finale at Yale the ultimate “big game” of the regular season.
The good news for Princeton is that it has one of the most important pieces needed to handle the stretch run — strength in goal.
“That is huge,” coach Jim Barlow said. “Especially in our league, when there is such parity, the games are so tight and there is so much riding on each game. To have a steady, confident, reliable leader back there is awesome, and we feel we have three of them.”
That’s pretty impressive, since some teams would kill for just one.
The main guy has been junior Jacob Schachner, who is 7-4-1 in 12 starts with a 0.72 goals against average and five shutouts. The Waxhaw, N.C. product has allowed nine goals on 33 shots for a .786 save percentage.
On the two occasions Schachner hasn’t started, Princeton has not allowed goal, as junior Mohamed Abdelhamid of Fort Lee High School and sophomore Jack Roberts of Wellesley, Mass. each registered shutouts in their one start each.
“Jacob has been really solid all year, and so have our other keepers,” Barlow said. “The three of them push each other every day and our goalkeeper coach, Ryan Hayward, has done a tremendous job training all three of them. They are all very different keepers, but they have such pride in the work that they do every day, and the competitive atmosphere they create every day ensures that they all continue to get better.”
At 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, the rangy Schachner has a good goalie build. After playing four games as a freshman, he made 16 starts last year and earned Honorable Mention All-Ivy after going 5-7-4 with four shutouts.
Aside from athletic ability, he also has the mental capacity necessary for a keeper.
“Jacob’s special qualities include his composure under pressure, his positioning, his ability to stay focused on several things at one time, and his comfort with the ball at his feet,” Barlow said. “He has also emerged as a leader this year and is one of our captains (with Sean McSherry) as a junior. We have a lot of confidence in him.”
And while there have been games in which opponents have not taken many shots on goal, much of that could be attributed to the positioning done by Schachner as he directs traffic in the box to short circuit good scoring opportunities. But when big stops are necessary, he comes up with them as witnessed by saves on penalty kicks against Southern Illinois and Brown.
Barlow added that, “When we were tied with Temple late in the game, he made an incredible reaction save to keep the game tied. He has also done well in several games to come off his line and grab long throws or corners, or to get through to balls.” “We obviously have to win these games. And we’ll need some help. We need to put 90 minutes of good soccer together. We’ve lost eight games by one goal. We’re not playing terrible, we just have these lapses and the other teams make us pay.”
Moments after the St. Peter’s loss, Inverso headed to Robbinsville High to watch his special needs son, CJ, get his first career start for the Ravens soccer team and score three goals against Nottingham in what was an incredible atmosphere.
“It was unbelievable to sit there and watch,” Inverso said. “My wife (Lynne) was so happy and I was just so happy for her, and for CJ of course. But when CJ was born, Lynne quit her job for three years just to work with him. She has been unbelievable. She’s responsible for 90 percent of how he has grown up. His teachers are responsible for eight percent, and he gets two percent from me – the wise guy part of it.
“Lynne and I just can’t thank everyone enough who was involved. Robbinsville was great, as we knew they would be. And Nottingham was outstanding with how they took part in it. Just a memorable night and we appreciate everything everyone did.”