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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer Hosts Harvard Saturday
October 18, 2006 | Women's Soccer
PRINCETON, N.J. -- After snapping a four-match losing streak Tuesday at American, the Princeton women's soccer team (5-7-1, 0-4 Ivy) will look for its first league win Saturday at 7 p.m. against Harvard.
Last time out
Diana Matheson chipped in two goals and Jen Om scored her first goal of the year as Princeton defeated American, 3-0. It was Princeton's fifth shutout of the year. Matheson's two goals gave her seven on the season and three in the last three games to lead the team in goals and points (18).
Playing for a winning season
While an 0-4 start won't help the Tigers' standing in the Ivy League, Princeton can still continue a string of winning seasons to 10. At 5-7-1 with three games left, Prinecton can avoid its first losing season since 1996, when the team went 7-8-2 in Julie Shackford's second season.
All-time series
Harvard has history on its side as the Crimson lead the all-time series 7-18-1 overall and 3-10 at Lourie-Love Field. The Tigers, however, are on a two-match win streak and are 3-1-1 against the Crimson since 2001.
Last meeting
At Harvard's Ohiri Field, Princeton's Emily Behncke '06 scored with four seconds left in the second overtime to give the Tigers a win that kept Princeton's hopes of an Ivy title alive. Without the win, the chase for an NCAA bid would have ended well before the final day of the season, when Yale held off Princeton with a win at Brown to take the Ivy crown by one standings point.
On the Crimson
Just as with Princeton, Harvard has had its struggles. The Crimson enter Saturday's match at 3-10-1 overall, 2-2 in Ivy play, and are coming off back-to-back overtime losses to Brown and Holy Cross. Harvard has been outscored 25-13, with Sophomore midfielder/forward Erin Wylie (three goals) as its leading goal scorer. Harvard's opponents have earned almost twice as many corner kicks (83) as have the Crimson (46), which doesn't help the goal deficit. Rookie Lauren Mann has played every minute in goal for Harvard, earning a 1.73 GAA.
Leaders of the Tribe
Both head coaches Saturday will be William and Mary alumnae, as Princeton's Julie Shackford is a 1988 graduate and first-year Harvard mentor Erica Walsh is a 1997 grad.
A young team
As exemplified by Princeton's starting lineup at American, the Tigers are a young squad. Of the 11 starters, five were juniors, three were sophomores and three were freshmen. The youth results from Princeton having sent off 17 seniors between the Classes of 2005 and 2006, while just three will graduate in 2007.
Local links
Two Harvard players are from the town of Princeton, including sophomore midfielder Zoe Sarnak and freshman defender Lizzy Nichols. Sarnak is a Princeton High School grad, and Nichols went to The Lawrenceville School.
Avoiding history
Princeton hasn't been 0-4 in Ivy League play, as it is now, since 1993. That year, the Tigers started 0-5 against its conference foes on the way to a program-low three total wins and one in Ivy play. Losses to Brown, Cornell, Yale, Dartmouth and Harvard put Princeton in the hole, and a win against Columbia before a loss at Penn was all that saved the Orange and Black from going winless in the Ivy League. Princeton has never gone without an Ivy win and has won only one league game three times in the previous 26 seasons.
Chasing a record
Julie Shackford earned her 130th win at Princeton Tuesday at American, by far a record for the women's team. She's approaching the men's record, held by Jimmy Reed, the men's coach from 1938-66, who had 136 wins.
Princeton-Harvard Day
The women's soccer game will wrap up a day full of Princeton-Harvard action at Old Nassau. The field hockey and football teams will take on the Crimson at noon, while men's soccer will begin at 4 p.m. Two weeks later, Princeton-Penn Day comes to campus. The night before, Nov. 3, field hockey hosts the Quakers, while men's soccer and football begin at 1 p.m. Nov. 4 and women's soccer closes it out at 4 p.m.