The Harvard men’s soccer team’s two leading goal scorers came through again on Saturday, as senior midfielder Kevin Ara and freshman forward Matt Hoff provided the goals in a 2-0 win over Princeton.

The new-look Crimson (6-4-3, 1-2-1 Ivy) relentlessly pressured the Tigers (4-5-2, 1-2-1) during the first 10 minutes by throwing its unfamiliar configuration at its opponents.

Instead of going with Hoff and sophomore Brian Charnock as the starting forwards, Harvard coach John Kerr turned to freshman Charles Altchek and sophomore Anthony Tornaritis to spark an offense that had been shut out by Brown the previous week.

“We just wanted to change up the lineup,” Kerr said. “We have a lot of depth.”

Six minutes into the game, Altchek had a golden opportunity to score his second goal of the year, but his shot was cleared off the line by a Princeton defender.

A mere four minutes later, Ara saw another opportunity and shouted for sophomore back Will Craig to give him the ball.

“I noticed the two guys on me were ball-watching,” Ara said. “I got away.”

Craig lofted a ball over the Tiger defender to the streaking Ara, who calmly controlled the ball and dribbled it toward the goalie before poking it past him into the far corner of the net for his fourth goal of the year.

The attacking style was exactly what Harvard had planned before the game.

“We were playing direct,” said Kerr. “I wanted to catch them off guard, and I think we did that.”

Kerr continued on to say that scouting reports had indicated a lack of speed in Princeton’s center backs and he had hoped to get the starting forwards and midfielders behind them.

Though Harvard continued to apply pressure and saw two Ara headers bang off the crossbar, the Crimson didn’t score again until the 67th minute.

Harvard earned a free kick just outside the penalty area and Charnock played it into the middle of the box, where it was cleared out by Princeton. But sophomore midfielder Nicholas Tornaritis retrieved possession and sent a weak ball into the middle of the box, where Hoff—fresh off the bench—waited.

With little room to maneuver, Hoff took the ball, quickly turned and put his team-leading sixth goal of the season between a Tiger defender and the post.

Throughout the game, the Crimson’s defense held tight against the counterattacks Princeton tried to mount.