.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Negron Named Ivy Player Of The Year For Second Straight Year
November 09, 2004 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 9, 2004
Esmeralda Negron, who set five Princeton records while leading the Tigers to the Top 10 in Division I, has been named the Ivy League women's soccer Player of the Year for the second straight season. She has become the third player in league history to be named Ivy Player of the Year twice.
Diana Matheson was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Matheson deferred her freshman year to compete with the Canadian national team in the World Cup and in Olympic qualifying before making her collegiate debut this season.
Negron and Matheson were also unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selections. Princeton also had two other first-team selections, defender Romy Trigg-Smith and forward Emily Behncke. Defenders Janine Willis and Elizabeth Pillion were second-team selections. Defender Brea Griffiths was an honorable mention selection.
Negron set Princeton records for goals in a season (17), goals in a career (44), points in a season (43) and points in a career (103) while tying the school single-season record with nine assists. She also led the Ivy League in goals, assists and points in both league games and overall.
Negron, a member of the world champion United States Under-21 national team, was a first-team All-Ivy selection for the third time. She was named Ivy Player of the Week three times in the final four weeks of the season.
Matheson became the first freshman at Princeton to be named first-team All-Ivy since Heather Deerin in 1999. She started the Princeton season off in style with a goal 4:43 into the opener against Texas A&M, and she finished the regular season with seven goals and five assists. Matheson was a three-time Ivy Rookie of the Week.
Behncke, a junior, was named first-team All-Ivy for the second straight time after being a second-team selection and Ivy Rookie of the Year as a freshman. She is Princeton's second-leading scorer behind Negron with nine goals and five assists, and her 21 career goals have her in eighth place all-time at Princeton.
Trigg-Smith, also a junior, played every minute of each of the first 16 games and then had a 10-minute break in the season finale. Trigg-Smith had a goal and two assists, and she also was the leader of a defense that allowed just eight goals in 17 games. Trigg-Smith was named Ivy League Player of the Week and to the SoccerBuzz Elite Team of the Week, and she was a CoSIDA District II Academic All-America as a well.
Willis earned All-Ivy recognition for the fourth time, including second-team honors the last two years. Pillion, a first-team All-America in lacrosse, was in her first season as a starter for the women's soccer team.
Griffiths was a second-team selection as a sophomore before being honored again this year as senior.
Princeton went 15-2 during the regular season, setting a school record for wins in a season, and had the first perfect Ivy League record in program history. The Tigers, the seventh seed, host Central Connecticut Friday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.