Mercer County Soccer Hall of Famer Jim Barlow knew his Princeton men’s soccer side had to go to Philadelphia and win two games if it was going to reach the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time. The Tigers delivered the goods in unforgettable fashion. First they rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Cornell in an overtime and then captured the Ivy League Tournament championship for the first time and the auto big that comes with it by beating No. 12 Penn, 3-1, in the final on Sunday. “We knew it was going to be a really tough test playing the Ivy League champs and a team that’s beaten us the last few times on their home field, especially after such a hard-fought game Friday night (in the semifinals),” Barlow said. “The guys just dug down deep and found the energy and mentality to have another really good game, just two days after a huge win against Cornell. It was a great effort, and the guys are really excited to see how far we can take it.” The reward? A trip to Akron in the opening-round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. The Zips (11-4-4) won the Big East regular-season title with a 7-0-1 record in the league. They have plenty of postseason history as well, having won a national championship in 2010, along with three runner-up finishes and six all-time trips to the College Cup. Ranked No. 13 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, Akron is led by potential Hermann Trophy semifinalist Emil Jaaskelainen. The Bolton, England-born striker leads the nation in scoring with 23 goals and seven assists. Jaaskelainen spent four seasons at Long Island University where he was a two-time NEC Player of the Year before transferring to Akron for his graduate year. His father, Jussi, a goalkeeper, made 530 appearances for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League from 1997 through 2012 and was capped 56 times by Finland. The winner travels to No. 14 national seed Indiana (10-4-5) for a second-round game. Princeton (12-6) was one of three Ivy teams to receive a bid into the 48-team field. Regular-season champ Penn, led by former Pennington standout Stas Korzeniowski and coached by former Rider captain Brian Gill, was one of the top 16 seeds to get a first-round bye. Cornell, which finished in second in the Ivy, received an at-large and is hosting a first-round match against Fordham. Ohio State, Pitt, Denver and Georgetown are the top four seeds.