OPENING SALVO: Princeton University men’s soccer player Bardia Hormozi celebrates after scoring the lone goal for the Tigers last Friday as they tied Villanova 1-1 in their season opener. On Monday, senior midfielder Hormozi contributed two assists to help Princeton defeat No. 3 Portland 2-0. The Tigers, now 1-0-1, host James Madison on September 4 before playing at UMass on September 7. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
After earning first-team All-Ivy League honors last fall in his junior year as the Princeton University men’s soccer team produced a historic campaign, Bardia Hormozi could have gone pro.
Star midfielder/forward Hormozi, who tallied six goals and four assists to help the Tigers go 15-2-2 in 2025 as they won the Ivy regular season title and league postseason tournament, was selected by Minnesota United in the second round of the MLS Superdraft last December as the 53rd pick overall.
But Hormozi decided to put his pro career on hold to return to Princeton for one last season with the Tigers.
“It is hard to leave a culture and a place like this,” said Hormozi, a 5’10, 160-pound native of Bethesda, Md. “Senior year is always great.”
Last Friday, Hormozi got his senior season off to a good start, scoring a second half goal as Princeton tied Villanova 1-1 in its season opener.
Coming into the contest, Hormozi and his teammates knew that they were the hunted after their stellar 2025 campaign.
“When we do so well like that obviously you are going to have a target on your back,” said Hormozi. “I think everyone on this team knows that is a privilege to have.”
While the Tigers carried play as it outshot Villanova 11-4, including a 4-1 edge in shots on goal, and generating six corner kicks to three for the Wildcats, they couldn’t close the deal.
“Today for example we played really well but we just couldn’t get the end product, one small slip up gave ’Nova the chance,” said Hormozi. “But I really thought today was a continuation of last season, the only place from here is up for us. We have a lot of new guys who came in today. Noah Hammerschmidt is a freshman and he really stepped up. I am frustrated we didn’t win that, I think we deserved to win.”
At halftime, the message was that a breakthrough was coming.
“It was just keep going, a lot of guys were a little frustrated that we weren’t getting goals,” said Hormozi. “I felt like ’Nova had no chances. Eventually we got that goal.”
In the early stages of the second half, Hormozi was frustrated as he missed two shots, including one that slid just wide of the goal.
“I felt like a goal was coming, I like to hold myself accountable,” said Hormozi. “I would like to get those two chances back so the score is 2-1, 3-1 instead of 1-1.”
With 18:16 left in regulation, Hormozi finally cashed in a chance as he blasted a volley that caromed off the crossbar into the net to put the Tigers up 1-0. Villanova answered back two minutes later with a goal and neither team scored after that.
“I just blacked out, I didn’t think,” said Hormozi, reflecting on the tally. “I just did what my instincts told me. It came off my foot kind of well. The bar down is always a nice thing to use. Unfortunately we couldn’t win the game.”
As he goes through his final season with the Tigers, Hormozi is looking to contribute all over the field.
“It is just help the team win, whatever that means,” said Hormozi, who helped Princeton post a 2-0 win over No. 3 Portland on Monday night as he contributed two assists. “If that means I have to work defensively or whether I need to set guys up, whatever it takes to make the team win. I don’t like to define myself as a certain player.”
While the Tigers didn’t win the opener, Princeton head coach Jim Barlow had no qualms with the effort he got from his players.
“The first game is always an adventure,” said Barlow. “I thought by the end of the first half, we were in a little bit of a rhythm and getting it going. We had some chances. Kevin [Kelley] hit the crossbar. We feel good that there are pretty good starting points but we are also frustrated that it shouldn’t come to one mistake when you have five, six, seven chances. Noah hit the woodwork and we had a couple of other chances go wide.”
Barlow wasn’t surprised to see Hormozi get things going for Princeton.
“It was nice to see him break the ice because he did have a couple of chances,” said Barlow. “I know he can get frustrated when he misses a couple of chances but he stayed with it and that one hit the bar but went down.”
Princeton was frustrated to not come away with a victory. “We made one mistake, Roka [Tsunehara] just didn’t arrange his feet which he does 99 out of a 100 times,” said Barlow. “The kid (Luke Martelli) finished so you have to give them credit. That was their only shot on goal I think.”
With Villanova coming into the evening with three full scrimmages and two regular season games under its belt, it was able to wear down a Tiger squad that only had one scrimmage before Friday.
“I thought at the 75-minute mark, we hit the wall and got really tired,” said Barlow. “We couldn’t keep our compactness. We got stretched out and then it was anybody’s game. They were getting chances and we were getting chances. You just don’t want to leave your defenders so defenseless back there but they did put out fire after fire. Dash [Papez] and Freddy [Sadjak] did well at center back. Kristian [Kelley] was getting tired on the right and Noah was getting tired. We put Roka up front and Lucas [Ferreira] came in and did fine too.”
In Barlow’s view, there were plenty of positives to take from the opener despite the dicey final 15 minutes of the contest.
“I think we showed that we have a deep team,” said Barlow. “We are going to be hard to score on. We are going to be a pretty good passing team. Now it is can we make it add up to goals. I don’t think we can expect to not give up any goals.”
In topping No. 3 Portland three days later, the Tigers showed promise at both ends of the field as goalkeeper Andrew Samuels earned the shutout and Kevin Kelley and Hammerschmidt got the goals. Heading into the matchup with the Pilots, Barlow sensed that his squad would be fired up.
“It will be a great opportunity for us to play against one of the best teams in the country,” said Barlow, whose team hosts James Madison on September 4 before playing at UMass on September 7. “I think our guys will be up for it.”
Hormozi, for his part, believed that the tie with Villanova would prove to be a blessing in disguise going forward. “There are a lot of things we can build on, I am very excited,” said Hormozi. “We definitely want to win. It feels like a loss, if anything it will just push this team.”