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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Location, Time Change Shifts Season Opener for Women's Soccer
September 01, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Due to anticipated heavy rains, Saturday's season-opening women's soccer contest against Boston University has been moved to the turf field at Mercer County Community College southeast of Princeton and will start at 6 p.m., two hours later than the originally scheduled start time. Directions to the college can be found here.
Boston University, which received votes in both the adidas/NSCAA and SoccerBuzz.com polls, began the season Aug. 25 by knocking off No. 10 (NSCAA)/16 (SB) Boston College 1-0 in overtime before falling 3-1 to UMass Wednesday.
Still streaking
Princeton ended last season on a five-game winning streak that keyed its run to taking the Ivy League race until the final day. The Tigers are still on that streak and look to extend it into 2006.
For openers
Princeton is 8-3 in season-opening games under Julie Shackford. The program had won five in a row before dropping last season's opener to UCLA at Miami, Fla.
Undefeated
The Tigers are 4-0-2 all-time against Boston University with all six meetings coming during Shackford's tenure. Princeton won in 1998 (away), 2000 (home), 2002 (away) and 2003 (home) while tying in 1997 (away) and last season (away).
Last time around
These two teams got together last Sept. 18 in Boston. Emily Behncke '06 scored both of Princeton's goals and Diana Matheson and Sarah Peteraf had assists as the Tigers and Terriers tied, 2-2.
New faces
The Tigers welcome six freshmen to the program this year. Defenders Caitlin Alev and Melissa Seitz, midfielder Lauren Thomas, forward Marci Pasenello, goalkeeper Jesse George Nichol and forward/midfielder Vicki Anagnostopoulos begin their Princeton careers today.
In goal
Last year, the Tigers had three goalkeepers, including Emily Vogelzang, Madeleine Jackson and Maren Dale. Only Dale is back this year, Vogelzang and Jackson having graduated. Dale, a junior, posted a 2-3-0 record with a 1.45 goals-against average and a .619 save percentage last year.
New scorers
The Tigers scored 30 goals last year. Eighteen of them graduated with Ivy League Player of the Year Behncke (14), Romy Trigg Smith (two) and Maura Gallagher (two). The Tigers will carry four true forwards on the roster this year including Pasenello, Meghan Farrell, Allison Williams and Amanda Ferranti. Expect increased production from the midfield as well, with Diana Matheson (five goals in 2005) returning along with Aarti Jain (two goals), Sarah Peteraf (two goals) and newcomers Lauren Thomas and Vicki Anagnostopoulos.
Catching up
While Boston College has already played two games against Bay State rivals Boston College and UMass, the Tigers and the rest of the Ivy League kick off their seasons this weekend. Yale, Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth start Friday while the Tigers, Cornell and Penn start Saturday and Columbia begins Sunday.
See 'em while you can
Princeton doesn't have another home game until Sept. 19 against Lehigh. In the meantime, the Tigers will head to Penn's campus to face Hofstra and Richmond next weekend before visiting Shackford's alma mater, William & Mary. There, Princeton will meet the host Tribe along with Virginia Commonwealth.
Keeping it local
The Tigers will travel to only seven sites during the regular season. Princeton will go no further north than Ithaca, N.Y. to play Cornell on October 28 and no further south than Williamsburg, Va. for William & Mary's tournament in two weeks.
Stacked schedule
Not only has Shackford kept the Tigers playing teams from their region, but Princeton will also play six NCAA tournament schools from a year ago. The Tigers, who played in NCAA tournaments every year from 1999-2004, including a run to the College Cup semifinal that last season, will take on today's Terriers, who made it to the second round in 2005, along with Hofstra (first round), Virginia Commonwealth (second round), Yale (round of 16), Dartmouth (first round) and Bucknell (first round).
A Tiger goes global
Matheson, who played this summer for Team Canada in international friendlies, will help her home country qualify for the 2007 World Cup this fall.