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Princeton University Athletics
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No. 21 Princeton Travels To Florida To Open Women's Soccer Season Against UCLA, Miami
August 31, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 31, 2005
It's been nine months since Princeton and UCLA last met in women's soccer. That time, the game was the first of the College Cup doubleheader as the Tigers and Bruins met for a spot in the 2004 NCAA championship game. UCLA won the game 2-0 before falling two days later to Notre Dame in penalty kicks as the Fighting Irish won the national title.
Now, 10 graduated Princeton women's soccer player later, comes the rematch. Princeton opens the 2005 season this weekend at an event at the University of Miami, where its first game will be against UCLA (Friday, 7 p.m.), ranked third and already 2-0 after wins over Long Beach State and San Diego State. The Tigers will then face Miami Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m.).
Princeton opens the season looking for a fifth Ivy League title in the last six years and a seventh straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Princeton is one of 17 teams in Division I to have advanced to the NCAA tournament each of the last six years.
Princeton enters the game after seven days of preseason.
As in last year's semifinal, part of the focus of the Princeton-UCLA game will be the head coaches, Princeton's Julie Shackford and UCLA's Jill Ellis, who have been best friends since they played club soccer together at age 16. They went on to be college teammates at William & Mary, where both are in the school's athletic Hall of Fame, and Ellis is the godmother of one of Shackford's children.
Princeton, ranked 21st by the NSCAA and SoccerBuzz and 14th by Soccer America, is coming off a 19-3 season that saw the Tigers defeat Central Connecticut, Villanova, Boston College and Washington in the NCAA tournament to advance to the Final Four. Princeton went 7-0-0 in the Ivy League and outscored its league foes 24-3. Overall, Princeton outscored its opponents 58-11, setting the school record for goals in a season.
The Tigers became the first Ivy team to advance to the Final Four in women's soccer and the first Ivy team in any 64-team NCAA tournament to advance to the Final Four. Among the myriad of honors won by Princeton, Shackford was named the NSCAA and SoccerBuzz Division I Coach of the Year and Esmeralda Negron and Diana Matheson were named first-team All-America. Unfortunately for the Tigers, neither All-America will be in Florida this weekend. Negron, whose 47 career goals are the most ever by a Princeton men's or women's soccer player, has graduated and begun her professional career in Europe. Matheson, a sophomore, will miss these two games to play with the Canadian national team in a pair of games against Germany in British Columbia and in Alberta.
The good news for Princeton is that Matheson will rejoin the team in time for next week's Princeton Invitional. The bad news is that Negron is just one of the many key contributors from a year ago who have graduated.
In addition to Negron, whose 20 goals, 12 assists and 52 points last year were all school single-season records, Princeton also graduated four-year starters Janine Willis and Brea Griffiths, three-year starter Rochelle Willis and two-year starter Elizabeth Pillion on defense, goal-scorer Kristina Fontanez and veteran midfielders Catherine Byrd and Sylvia Morelli.
A closer look at the 2005 Tigers:
Offense
Emily Behncke, a co-captain along with Matheson, would have tied the 23-year-old school record for goals in a season last year when she scored 13, were it not for the fact that Negron scored 20. Behncke, who scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Boston College in the Sweet 16, has twice been a first-team All-Ivy League selection and All-Mid-Atlantic Region pick. She enters her senior year with 25 career goals, tied with Dana DeCore '99 for fourth-best all-time at Princeton; she needs one to tie Amee Reyes for third and would then trail only Negron (47) and Linda DeBoer '85 (41).
Matheson was a first-team All-America a year ago as a freshman. Matheson, also the Ivy Rookie of the Year and a member of the Canadian national team, scored seven goals and had seven assists last year from the center of the midfield.
The third returning first-team All-Ivy selection is senior Romy Trigg-Smith, who has started every game the last two years and who played more minutes last year than any other player. Trigg-Smith was to move to midfield a year ago, but she returned to defense when Rochelle Willis was hurt.
Maura Gallagher, who will join Behncke as another four-year starter, has 11 goals and 14 assists for her first three years, leaving her six assists shy of the school record. It was Gallagher who knocked in the corner kick in the 103rd minute to defeat Villanova 1-0 in the second round of the 2004 NCAA tournament.
The senior class also features two players who have split the goalkeeping position almost 50-50 the last two years. Emily Vogelzang and Madeleine Jackson, who each won two NCAA tournament games last year, are both back for the final seasons, as is midfielder Maija Garnaas, a two-time Academic All-America. Megan Bernard has been a goalkeeper her first three years, though she will work as a field player this year.
Meghan Farrell, another junior, started one game last year and is an offensive threat who has five career goals in a supporting role. Amanda Ferranti, the third junior, scored her first career goal last year against Cornell and is another option.
The sophomore class beyond Matheson didn't play that many minutes a year ago, but it is a deep group that will make a huge impact this year, as any number of players could start and/or see considerable time. Meredith Wall figures to be one of the starters on defense, where she should be joined by either Melissa Whitley or Lisa Chinn, the other of which will play considerably. Maren Dale, who started against Colgate last year and shut out the Patriot League champ for the 90 minutes of regulation before giving way to Jackson for the overtime, will push the two returning goalkeepers. Ashley Beyers should see the field in the midfield, while Aubrey Wagenseller and Alyssa Salvo are other players who will push for time in the midfield. Regina Yang, a walk-on, joins the team this year.
The freshman class goes six deep and features players from New Hampshire (Sara Peteraf) to Texas (Allison Scott) to two from California (Aarti Jain, Taylor Numann). There is also another player from Virginia (Jen Om) and New Jersey (Allison Williams). Among that group, Numann will probably start on defense, and Om will probably start in the midfield. Williams and Jain will play a great deal up top.