Men's soccer clinches at-large bid to NCAAs

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The men's soccer team hopes to hit the ground running when it plays at Rutgers on Sat., Nov. 20 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Entering the final two matches of the regular season, the Bulldogs knew they needed to have strong performances in order to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Two wins would have meant an Ivy League title and an automatic bid, and anything less would leave the team in limbo waiting for the selection committee's decision.

The first match was a hard fought 2-1 victory on Sat., Nov. 6 on the road against Cornell. The Elis jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal from forward Jay Alberts, SY '03. But the Bulldogs let up after the goal, and Cornell quickly tied the score. "We didn't play the prettiest style," Alberts said. "After the first goal we became too relaxed." In the second half, though, Alberts lifted Yale up once again with his second goal of the game, and Yale escaped from Ithaca with a crucial victory.

Yale's victory over the Big Red set up what turned out to be the Ivy League championship game on Sat., Nov. 13 at Princeton. If the Bulldogs had won the game, they would have vaulted into a tie for the Ivy League title and received an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. But a loss or a tie would have given Princeton sole possession of the Ivy League crown as well as the automatic bid.

"It turned out to be everything you'd want a championship game to be," coach Brian Tomp-kins said. The game was extremely even throughout. Princeton had some scoring opportunities in the first half, but Eli goalkeeper Danny Moss, MC '01, made impressive saves to preserve the scoreless tie. "In the first half, we gave the ball away a lot, but our adaptation was good. Their defensemen are tall, so in the second half, we kept the ball on the ground and got more scoring chances," Jac Gould, CC '00, the Bulldogs' leading scorer, said. Despite having more scoring chances, including a shot that hit off the crossbar, Yale was not able to net a goal off of Princeton keeper Jason White '03. The game went into overtime, but again, neither team was able to convert on its scoring opportunities. When time ran out, the teams were still in an 0-0 deadlock, making Princeton the Ivy League champion. "We played intensely for the whole 120 minutes. We fought and battled hard to the last second," Harris said. "We were extremely disappointed after only coming away with a tie."

Because they failed to beat Princeton, Harris and many of his teammates wound up in TK's this past Monday waiting to learn whether or not the selection committee had chosen Yale as one of 16 teams to earn at-large entries into the NCAA Tour-nament's 32-team field. Despite a 12-4-1 record and wins over second-ranked Indiana, 15th-ranked St. John's, and an impressive George-town team, "Most of us thought that our season was over," Gould said. As the first eight teams were announced, the Elis' hopes fell. "We saw a couple of the other at-large teams be selected that we thought were marginal, and we thought we might not get in," Tompkins said.

The Bulldogs' fears were soon allayed, once they soon heard the Yale name called. "I haven't felt this excited since I got the acceptance letter to Yale," Moss said. The Bulldogs will spend the rest of this week practicing for their game on Sat., Nov. 20 against Rutgers. The game will take place at Yurcak Field, notoriously one of the most difficult places in the country to play at on the road. However, "We've been to difficult places before," Tompkins said. "I can't imagine that it's much more difficult than playing Indiana at the Brown-Adidas Tournament or playing at Cornell or Princeton."

Rutgers' offense will be led by forward Dennis Ludwig '02, the team's leading scorer. Brian Piesner '00 is also an offensive threat and was an All-Big East First Team selection last year. Goalkeeper Jon Conway '00, who has an 0.80 goals-against average, anchors the Scarlet Knight defense. Conway is the two-time Big East Goalkeeper of the Year winner and a three-time All-Big East First Team selection.

Rutgers enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 12-5-3. In addition, this season they earned their first Big East regular season crown, sharing the title with the University of Connecticut. Though Rutgers lost its most recent match to Georgetown in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. Tompkins wasn't underestimating them. "They're very skillful, and they don't give up a lot of goals," he said. In fact it will not be easy for either team to score as both Rutgers [0.90] and Yale [0.88] give up less than a goal per game. "We're playing against a quality team that likes to play soccer and has a similar style to our own," Tompkins said. "It's not going to be a war of attrition as it would be if we were playing a very physical team."

Both teams enter the competition after impressive stretches. Yale is 5-1-1 in its last seven games, and Rutgers is 7-2-1 in its last 10. Additionally, the two teams have similar records against their common opponents, which include Connecticut, Georgetown, St. John's, and Princeton. Yale is 2-1-1, and Rutgers is 3-1-1 after playing Georgetown for a second time.

The Scarlet Knights have a history of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. While the Bulldogs have only qualified four times since the tournament's inception in 1959, the Scarlet Knights have made 10 appearances in the last 19 years. Rutgers' most recent appearance was two years ago, when the Scarlet Knights fell 1-0 to Maryland in the first round. "Teams that are experienced in the NCAA Tournament know how to raise their game to another level," Tompkins said. "When you're experienced, you develop a resilience to all the hoopla."

While none of the Elis have NCAA Tournament experience, Tompkins led the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers—the team he coached until taking over as the Yale head coach in 1996, to the tournament in 1990. "The most important thing is not to be overwhelmed by the event," Tompkins said. "We have to stay confident and remember to play the game. I'm confident that our guys can do it because they've handled big games well in the past. If we play well, good things will happen. It's a series of one-game challenges."

1999 Men's Soccer Schedule
Date	Opponent	Yale	Opp.
Sept. 10	Indiana*	2	1
Sept. 12	Georgetown*	2	1
Sept. 17	St. Bonaventure	2	0
Sept. 19	St. Francis, NY	2	0
Sept. 22	at Connecticut	0	5
Sept. 25	Harvard	3	0
Sept. 30	Hartford	1	0
Oct. 6	at Quinnipiac	6	0
OCt. 9	Dartmouth	2	3
Oct. 13	at Fairfield	2	1
Oct. 20	St. John's	2	0
Oct. 23	at Columbia	2	0
Oct. 27	Brown	0	2
Oct. 30	Pennsylvania	3	0
Nov. 1	at Colgate	4	1
Nov. 6	at Cornell	2	1
Nov. 13	at Princeton	0	0
*at Brown-Adidas Tournament

For the team's five seniors, captain Hiro Suzuki, BR '00, David Bauman, SM '00, Gould, Harris, and Chung-Ming Ip, CC '00, the NCAA Tournament berth represents the crowning achievement of their four consecutive 10-win seasons. "It's nice to be able to culminate my first class' careers with a tournament bid and to have one of their dreams realized," Tompkins said.

Photo of Phil Harris, SM '00, by Julia Tiernan.

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