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Princeton University Athletics
Must-Win Game in Philadelphia on Saturday for Princeton Women's Soccer
November 03, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 3, 2005
It all comes down to this
Saturday's match at Penn is a must-win for the Princeton women's soccer team if it hopes to earn the Ivy League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. A win would give Princeton 15 points in the league standings, eliminate Dartmouth and force Yale to win its game against Brown.
Bears are our friends
The second-favorite team of any Princeton fan on Saturday is Brown, which plays at Yale just after the Princeton-Penn game ends at 7 p.m. With 13 points already in its take, Yale can clinch the league championship with a win. But if Brown can tie Yale, leaving the Bulldogs with 14 points, or win outright, a Princeton win would send the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament.
An early advantage
Princeton won 10 of the first 11 matches against Penn between 1980 and 1996, outscoring Penn 54-8.
A back-and-forth battle
Since 1997, Penn has a slim lead in the series, winning four of the eight meetings with one tie.
South Street Blues
Princeton has not won at Penn since 1995. Since then, three of the four Princeton-Penn games in Philadelphia have gone the Quakers' way with one tie. Each loss has been by only one goal.
Four the good of the cause
When four goals have been scored in any Princeton game this year, it's been the Orange and Black and it's been a victory. The trend started Sept. 27 against La Salle, a 4-0 win. It continued with a 4-0 win over Rider on Oct. 19, also at Lourie-Love Field. On Saturday, it happened again but for the first time in a league game with Princeton topping Cornell, 4-1.
A year ago...
Princeton ended the 2004 regular season on Nov. 6, 2004, at Lourie-Love Field against Penn with a 4-1 win. Esmeralda Negron led the Tigers with a hat trick, a feat not to be duplicated again until last Saturday when Emily Behncke had her first-career three-goal game against Cornell, also in a 4-1 win. Emily Vogelzang made two saves and allowed the lone goal in the 64th minute after Princeton had already taken a 4-0 lead. The Tigers also outshot the Quakers, 20-6.
A look at the Quakers
Penn stands at 8-5-3 overall and 2-2-2 in the Ivy League following a 1-0 win over Brown in Philadelphia last Sunday. Sixteen of the team's 21 goals this season have come from three players: senior forward Carolyn Cross (6G, 2A), sophomore defender Rachel Fletcher (5G, 5A) and freshman midfielder Natalie Capuano (5G, 2A).
A Quaker-Tiger weekend
The women's soccer game is one of four Princeton-Penn contests this weekend. The rivalry starts with the field hockey teams meeting on Friday night, the football teams playing at noon, and the men's soccer teams following the women's game.
Big-time players make big-time plays
Emily Behncke is coming up large when it counts late in the season. Princeton is on a four-game winning streak with three of the game-winning goals off Behncke's foot. In the only game where the difference-maker didn't come from Behncke, she scored the other three goals in the 4-1 win over Cornell.
This is history, baby
Emily Behncke's game-winning goal in the second half against Columbia on Wednesday gave her 13 for the year, tying her output from last season. Four other players have had at least 13 goals in a season, but the only one with more was Esmeralda Negron. The leading scorer in Princeton history, Negron had 20 goals last season. The goal also gave Behncke 88 career points, third all-time (Negron 112, Linda DeBoer 94) and 38 goals, also third all-time (Negron 47, DeBoer 41).
Ivy League standings
(conference records only)
School Record Points Max. Pts. Yale 4-1-1 13 16 Princeton 4-2-0 12 15 Dartmouth 4-2-0 12 15 Columbia 3-3-0 9 12 Penn 2-2-2 8 11 Harvard 1-3-2 5 8 Brown 1-3-2 5 8 Cornell 1-4-1 4 7
It's gonna be that close
Though a tie at Penn and a Yale loss against Brown would give the Bulldogs and Tigers the Ivy League co-championship, the automatic bid would go to Yale because of the Elis' 2-1 win at Lourie-Love Field on Sept. 24. The Dartmouth-Cornell game on Sunday is of no consequence as far as the NCAA automatic berth even if both teams win and Yale loses because of Princeton's 2-0 win over the Big Green on Oct. 2.