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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer Names its 2005 Honorees, 2006 Captains
April 25, 2006 | Women's Soccer
PRINCETON, N.J. - The Princeton women's soccer team held its annual awards banquet April 23 and selected its most valuable player, unsung hero and most improved player for the 2005 season. Head coach Julie Shackford also announced that Diana Matheson and Christina Costantino will be captains on the 2006 Tiger squad.
The most valuable player award went to Ivy League Player of the Year Emily Behncke. The senior's 14 goals were a league-best by five over any other Ivy player and moved her to third place on the all-time Princeton list with 39 career goals. Her 30 points gave her 90 for her career, also third on the Princeton list. She scored eight goals in the last five games of the season to lead Princeton on a stretch that almost ended in an NCAA berth, but the Tigers came up one point short in the standings. Behncke was also named to all-region squads by the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz.
The Don Betterton "Unsung Hero" Award went to senior defender/midfielder Romy Trigg-Smith, a first-team All-Ivy honoree who played in all 16 games for the Tigers, scoring two goals. Trigg-Smith was also a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree this year.
Sophomore midfielder Ashley Beyers received the Ron Celestin Award for the most improved player. Beyers had a goal and two assists in 2005, playing in all 16 games with eight starts. As a rookie, Beyers played in 14 games without a start or a point.
Matheson will serve her second season as a captain in 2006. A much-heralded player through her first two seasons, Matheson was an NSCAA first-team All-America midfielder as a freshman and earned first-team All-Ivy honors last year. She is Princeton's leading returning scorer with five goals and seven assists in 2005.
Costantino missed her junior season with an ACL tear but started every game on defense in 2004 and played in 12 games her rookie season.
The Tigers start the 2006 season at home, Sept. 2, against Boston University.