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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Another Behncke Game-Winner Keeps Princeton Women's Soccer in Postseason Picture
November 01, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2005
Box Score
PRINCETON, N.J. - Emily Behncke's game-winning goal, her third in the last four games, helped the Princeton women's soccer team (7-6-2, 4-2-0 Ivy) to its fourth straight win and sixth victory in eight matches on Tuesday night at Lourie-Love Field, topping Ivy foe Columbia (9-6-1, 3-3-0), 2-1. The win keeps Princeton's hopes for the Ivy League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament alive with a win on Saturday at Penn and some help this week.
For the first 20 minutes, Princeton played like a team doing all it could to secure a postseason berth, keeping the ball from getting deep in its defensive zone while limiting Columbia to one shot - a cannonball straight into the arms of Princeton keeper Emily Vogelzang. But Columbia entered the night as the other team tied for third in the Ivy League, also fighting for an outside shot at the league's automatic bid, and the Lions were able to keep a back-and-forth going into halftime while creating two prime scoring chances and converting on one.
Princeton scored two minutes in on sophomore Ashley Beyers' first career goal. While Columbia netminder Allison Vespa focused on the action to her left, including Diana Matheson, the Tigers' second-leading scorer, Matheson pushed a pass across the 18-yard box and left Beyers with a wide open net and an unimpeded shot about 10 yards from the goal line.
Columbia answered when Jana Whiting charged up the right side in the 24th minute and threaded a ball through a mass of players across the goal box to Courtney Nasshorn, who tapped it inside the left post. While that shot snuck past Vogelzang, fellow senior Romy Trigg-Smith made sure Columbia didn't go ahead later in the half. With the ball dangerously close to the goal line's intersection with the right post, Trigg-Smith played goaltender as much as is allowed a field player, kicking and stretching to keep the game knotted at 1-1. As at the start of the game, the Orange and Black dictated the offense early in the second half, punctuated by Behncke's 13th goal of the season in the 55th minute. Freshman Aarti Jain powered a pass into the center of the goal box and Behncke outdueled her Columbia defender for the ball in the air, knocking it into the middle of the net. The goal tied Behncke's total from last season and is the fifth time a Princeton player has reached 13 goals in a season. The only player to score more in a year was Esmeralda Negron, who had 20 a year ago.
Vogelzang finished with one save on five Columbia shots, while Vespa stopped four of Princeton's nine shots. Princeton edged Columbia in corner kick opportunities, 5-4.
Princeton's match at Penn on Saturday will begin at 5 p.m. Tomorrow's Dartmouth-Yale game, a matchup of the other two teams still in the race, will dictate which game this weekend, Cornell-Dartmouth or Brown-Yale, will be of greater import to the Tigers, who stand in a first-place tie for the moment with Dartmouth with 12 points, two ahead of Yale.