• Shaky Lines Get Shakier (Football)
• Barlow '91 Returns to Lead Men's Soccer
• Scoreboard

SHAKY LINES GET SHAKIER
Gridders hold on for 37-30 win over Holy Cross, get "pushed around" in 20-14 loss to Lehigh
With his winning streak against Patriot League teams snapped at 10 games, and his Tigers off to their first 1-2 start since a forgettable 3-7 season in 1990, Steve Tosches wearily stated the obvious: "We want the game to be won on the lines . . . and we're not in a position to do that right now."
Tosches was forced to that conclusion by a 20-14 loss to Lehigh on October 5, in which Princeton gained a paltry 47 yards on the ground, while giving up 204. Injuries revealed that the offensive line, which over-achieved mightily in its first two games, is about as deep as a wading pool. The defense, as Tosches stated flatly, "got pushed around."
"We threw 41 passes. That's not our style of offense, and we're not going to win many games if that's what we have to do," said the coach. "If you can't get your tackle-to-tackle running game going, you just don't have all the bullets in the gun."
The loss to Lehigh had been foreshadowed the week before, against Holy Cross. In that game, the Tigers did what they needed to do, and not much more, to beat the Crusaders, 37-30. The exception was Brett Budzinski '97, whose ability to throw was in question at the beginning of the season. He connected for three touchdown passes and 193 total yards in the air, bringing about the apparent end of Tosches's much-debated two-quarterback system.
On the Tigers' first possession, tailback Mark Washington '97, running on an option pitch that would kill the Crusaders most of the day, put Princeton on the Holy Cross eight-yard line with consecutive runs around the right side for 11, 17, and 28 yards. Two incomplete passes into the end zone brought out place-kicker Alex Sierk '99 for a 24-yard field goal. Two possessions later, running back Gerald Giurato '00 reeled in a Budzinski pass at the 25, taking a crunching hit for his pains. That was followed by an 18-yard pass to Kevin Duffy '97, which set up a four-yard TD run by Washington. Sierk's point after made it 10-0.
In the second quarter, the Tiger defense held the Crusaders to three-and-out on four straight possessions, and Budzinski threw all three of his touchdown passes. The first was a 22-yard rope to Duffy (set up by a 14-yard grab by tight end Korli Kamara '97). On the next Tiger possession, Washington broke a run off right tackle for 17 yards to the Holy Cross 20-yard line. After a penalty pushed the Tigers back to the 25, Budzinski hit Alex House '97 over the middle for a second TD. With 1:14 remaining in the half and Princeton on the Crusaders' 12-yard line, Kamara ran a quick release to the left side and Budzinski found him all alone for another score.
After the game, Tosches would effectively name Budzinski his primary quarterback, saying, "It's not what Jackie Dempsey ['98, Budzinski's former platoon-mate] is not doing. It's what Brett Budzinski is doing. He is throwing the ball better than I have ever seen him."
In the third quarter, a Holy Cross air attack that had managed only one completion in the first two quarters suddenly began to look dangerous. Completing 18 of 27 passes for 178 second-half yards, the Crusaders punched in two third-quarter touchdowns and kept the Tiger offense from crossing the 50-yard line.
Princeton penetrated into Holy Cross territory at the start of the fourth quarter, and scored from the one-yard line on a pitch to Washington, taking a 37-22 lead with 10:45 remaining. During the drive, Budzinski was tackled on an option play and came up favoring his right ankle. Dempsey replaced him at quarterback and remained there for the rest of the game.
The Crusaders found the end zone once more, on a four-yard touchdown pass with four seconds remaining. Tosches admitted after the game that as Holy Cross lined up for the onsides kick he had a flashback to the heartbreaking final-play loss to the Crusaders in 1988, but free safety Tom Ludwig '98 grabbed the kickoff and the clock expired.
The Tiger offensive line, which had performed unexpectedly well against Cornell and Holy Cross, was blown off the field by Lehigh. With left guard Dave Maier '97 in street clothes nursing an injured ankle, and left guard Travis Pulliam '97 on the sideline with a neck strain, center Jason Griffiths '97 found himself flanked by four sophomores. Worse, the quarterback option that had been so effective against Holy Cross was temporarily excised from the playbook in what Tosches admitted was an attempt to protect Budzinski's gimpy ankle. Princeton's running backs paid the price, gaining an embarrassing 47 yards on the ground for an average of 1.3 per carry. "We got manhandled a little bit inside," said Tosches grimly.
The first two series of the Lehigh game told the Tigers everything they would need to know about the Engineers. The visitors' first five plays went to sophomore tailback Brian Baker, who used them to gain 57 of his 173 yards. A resulting field-goal attempt missed, but Princeton would see much more of Baker as the day wore on. On their first possession, the Tigers watched massive Lehigh tackle David Sunderland sack Budzinski twice in three plays for losses of 10 and seven yards.
Lehigh scored first, as cornerback Damani Leech '97 was beaten for a demoralizing 62-yard TD pass on third-and-21. Fullback Nathan McGlothlin '99 fumbled on Princeton's next possession, giving Lehigh the ball on the Princeton 45. Nine plays later, Baker shed two tacklers on a seven-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-0.
About two minutes into the second quarter, Princeton found itself with inches to go on fourth down, on the Lehigh 19-yard line. Surprisingly, the preternaturally cautious Tosches eschewed the field goal and went for a first down. He got it on a quarterback sneak and was rewarded six plays later when Jason Glotzbach '99 grabbed a touchdown pass from Budzinski. With 40 seconds remaining in the half, Leech snatched the first of the Tigers' four interceptions of the day, but with 60 yards to go, the Tigers ran out of time before they could run the length of the field.
Lehigh made it 20-7 in the third, when cornerback Royce Reed '99 bit on a quarterback pump fake and got beaten for a 29-yard touchdown pass. Its offensive line spent, Princeton was losing yardage on the ground, so the Tigers took to the air, moving the ball 57 yards on nine plays, but it was for naught. Budzinski was intercepted in the end zone on a 10-yard toss that skimmed over the fingertips of House, his intended receiver.
Minutes into the fourth quarter, linebacker Jamie Toddings stepped in front of a Lehigh pass and returned it 25 yards to the four-yard line. A loss of seven yards on a pitch to Washington put Princeton in back of the 10-yard line, but Budzinski found Duffy for a diving grab in the left corner of the end zone on the next play. Sierk's kick made it 20-14. Strong safety Jimmie Archie '97 prevented Lehigh from putting it away on the next possession by making a spectacular interception in the end zone while he was falling backwards, but the Tiger offense could not tie the score. With no running game left, Princeton was forced to rely on a passing attack that could not get the ball across the 50-yard line in any of its final three possessions.
-Rob Garver
Rob Garver is a sports writer for the Town Topics.

BARLOW '91 RETURNS TO LEAD MEN'S SOCCER
Jim Barlow '91 has a lot of his personal history tied up in Princeton University soccer. As a kid growing up down the road in Hightstown, he would come to Princeton to watch the Tigers (who are 2-2-2 overall, 0-1-1 Ivy this year) and would dream about playing on Lourie-Love field himself.
Coach Bob Bradley '80 gave Barlow the chance, recruiting him for the program after watching him lead his high school team to a state championship. When he put on orange and black, Barlow didn't disappoint. He took Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors in 1987. In 1988, he helped lead the Tigers to an Ivy championship. In 1989, Princeton went to the NCAA Tournament. And in 1990, Barlow was the first Princeton player ever named Ivy League Player of the Year.
Considering his history, it isn't surprising that Barlow slid with relative ease into the head coach's office last spring, when 12-year veteran Bradley resigned to become an assistant coach with D.C. United, of the fledgling Major League Soccer organization. "We have similar ideas about what good soccer looks like," says Barlow of his predecessor, "and similar ideas about how to push it along.
"Princeton has always had a unique soccer environment. In training sessions, we push the players to connect with each other and have everyone develop good soccer instincts. . . . I learned a good deal of what I know about soccer and about coaching from Bob Bradley."
Barlow came back to Princeton after four years as an assistant at American University (where he also earned his master's degree in education), expecting to inherit the bulk of a 13-5 team that Bradley had taken to the NCAA Tournament in 1995. He knew he would have to make up for the loss of first-team all-America Jesse Marsch '96, who had 16 goals and five assists last season.
To Barlow's dismay, he found the two players most able to erase that deficit sidelined with injuries. Midfielder André Parris '97-Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Soccer America's National Freshman Player of the Year in 1993-missed two games while recovering from ankle surgery and is still not at 100 percent. Forward Seth Dorros '98, who was benched by a stress fracture in his foot, was expected to miss at least the first six games. Barlow watched his suddenly underpowered offense get shut out in two of its first four games as the Tigers sputtered to a 1-2-1 start.
Princeton lost 2-0 to Hartwick in the season opener on September 14, in spite of outshooting the host squad 12-8 and controlling the ball through most of the first half. Hartwick pounded two goals past goalie Stuart Reynolds '97 in the opening minutes of the second half. Expressing a thought that would echo in his head during the Cornell game, six days later, Barlow said, "We have got to find somebody who can score some goals for us."
The Big Red could only manage one goal against the Tiger defense, but it was enough, as the offense remained unproductive. With about 12 minutes to play, Reynolds took a kick to the chin, opening a cut that would take seven stitches to close. He finished the contest anyway.
Unhappy with the team's start, Barlow still found something to be upbeat about. "We're definitely encouraged by the way we're defending as a team," he said. "We're just frustrated to have lost these two games."
Parris rejoined the 0-2-0 Tigers on September 25, and the team that had not scored a goal in its first two contests engineered a 4-2 win over the Seton Hall Pirates. For a little while, it looked as though Parris's return might have pushed the offense up to critical mass. The passing was crisp, and offensive chances that had not appeared in the first two games were suddenly there. Brien Wassner '00 scored 12 minutes into the contest on a redirection, and 26 minutes later Jamie Adams '98 fed classmate Hayden Jones for a second tally. Corey Rice '98 and Parris both scored on breakaways in the second half.
Then came the hangover. Parris was so sore after the contest that he didn't practice until the Dartmouth game, three days later. A talented Big Green defense gave up a head-ball goal by captain Jeff Plunkett '97 on a restart at the end of the first half, but afterward hardly let the Tigers in the goal box. The Princeton defense relied a bit more on its keeper, but was equally stingy, and after two overtime periods, the well-matched squads settled for a 1-1 tie.
It became clear then that Parris, at least in his current condition, was not the magic bullet. "He's not 100 percent yet, and he's not fit," says Barlow. "But André's still dangerous, and he helps all the guys become more dangerous. I know having him back is going to help our attack."
Some of the players who have shown promise up front include Rice, Jones, Matt Kinsey '98, and freshman Wassner, who Barlow says is still adjusting to the pace of college-level play. The coach says he is still trying "to piece together the best combinations," however.
If the attack is questionable, the midfield is just the opposite. It's anchored by Plunkett, an excellent defensive player who also has a knack for starting the offense, and by Chris Halupka '98, last season's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, who started all 18 games and finished with four goals and four assists. "I think Halupka and Plunkett will probably wind up being the engine that drives the team in the midfield," says the coach. Also in the middle is Adams, a talented 18-game starter last year; Jones, who saw plenty of time in 1995; and a promising freshman, Griff Behncke.
The defense lost frequent starters Andrew Lewis and Marcus Saskin (they are both taking a year off from school), but Princeton's well is deep. Returning senior John House, a first-team all-Ivy defender, and the speedy Neil Jasey '98 provide continuity from last year. A pleasing addition has been Chris Malik '97, who brings needed size to the back line.
The biggest defensive plus is the return of Reynolds in goal. The Hershey, Pennsylvania, native posted a 1.06 goals-against average last season (0.68 in Ivy play) and had five shutouts. "Stuart has been solid," says Barlow. "Every game he's come up with some big plays at important times to keep us in it. He makes plays that should be hard look easy, because he reads the field so well."
Princeton tied with Brown, 2-2, when they met on October 4, and has faced some tough non-league opponents, including nationally ranked Virginia, on the road, since then. Since Cornell is off to a 2-0-0 and looks unlikely to stumble, Princeton's hopes for post-season play rest on strong performances outside the league, making these games especially important.
-Rob Garver

SCOREBOARD
Men's Cross Country
(0-0 overall; 0-0 Ivy)
Disney Classic-2nd

Women's Cross Country
(0-0 overall; 0-0 Ivy)
Iona Invit.-5th
Disney Classic-5th

Field Hockey
(8-0 overall; 3-0 Ivy)
Princeton 7, Dartmouth 1
Princeton 4, Delaware 2
Princeton 3, Yale 2 (OT)

Football
(1-2 overall; 0-1 Ivy)
Princeton 37, Holy Cross 30
Lehigh 20, Princeton 14

Lightweight Football
(0-2 overall; 0-1 ELFL)
Cornell 19, Princeton 14
Penn 30, Princeton 12

Men's Soccer
(2-2-2 overall; 0-1-2 Ivy)
Princeton 4, Seton Hall 2
Princeton 1, Dartmouth 1
Princeton 3, Rider 0
Princeton 2, Brown 2

Women's Soccer
(3-5 overall; 1-2 Ivy)
Princeton 1, Rutgers 0
Dartmouth 6, Princeton 1
Monmouth 2, Princeton 0
Yale 3, Princeton 2

Women's Volleyball
(4-6 overall; 0-0 Ivy)
Princeton 3, Morgan St. 1
James Madison 3,
Princeton 2
Valparaiso 3, Princeton 0
Syracuse 3, Princeton 0
Princeton 3, Lehigh 0
Colgate 3, Princeton 2