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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Rutgers to Visit Women's Soccer for 25th Meeting Tuesday
October 01, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Princeton vs. Rutgers
Tue., Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Powers Field at Princeton Stadium
Records: Princeton 3-4-1; Rutgers 6-3-1
All-Time Series: Rutgers leads 12-9-3
Princeton head coach: Julie Shackford (13th season/William and Mary '88)
Rutgers head coach: Glenn Crooks (8th season/Georgia '80)
The Princeton-Rutgers series
Rutgers leads the all-time series with Princeton 12-9-3, building that advantage by winning eight of the first 13 contests. From 1996 on, Princeton leads 6-4-1. In Princeton, Rutgers leads 7-4-1 all-time, though the Tigers have won the last two.
Tigers on the tube
Princeton's game with Rutgers will be shown on tape-delay on CSTV Friday at 8 p.m. CSTV is available on many cable systems as well as DirecTV (Channel 610) and DISH Network (Channel 152).
Chasing history
Julie Shackford, in her 13th season with the Tigers, earned a share of the title of all-time winningest soccer coach at Princeton, men's or women's, with the win over Dartmouth Saturday. Jimmy Reed, the men's coach from 1938-66, also has 136 wins. Shackford claimed the winningest women's coach title in 2000.
Close ones
Prior to last season's 2-0 Rutgers win, the last 10 meetings in the series were decided by one goal or less, in the case of the 2003 tie.
It wasn't so long ago
One Princeton-Rutgers meeting took place in the postseason when the Scarlet Knights won a second-round NCAA game in Princeton 1-0 in 2001.
Last time against Rutgers
Princeton held a strong Rutgers team scoreless for 66 minutes before Caycie Gusman broke through and Kim Brandao added another in a 2-0 win last Oct. 4 in Piscataway.
Matheson's impact
Diana Matheson, who will tie Princeton's career assist record with her next helper, has scored a team-best 59 career points in her three-plus seasons. Princeton has a 23-3-2 record when Matheson scores a point.
Putting the O in Om
Junior Jen Om leads the Tigers with three of Princeton's 10 goals, all in a span of 12 days from the Notre Dame game Sept. 14 to Sacred Heart Sept. 26. Om came into the season with one goal through her first two seasons.
First for everything
Two Princeton freshmen have already had their first career goals with the Tigers. Alexandra Valerio had Princeton's first goal of the season on Sept. 14 at Notre Dame, and Libby van Beuren added her name to the list against Sacred Heart last week.
More first
Melissa Whitley, a senior defender, had Princeton's second goal at Dartmouth, which turned out to be the game-winner. It was her first goal in Orange and Black.
Home field advantage
Princeton has not allowed a goal in the 290 minutes played at home this season and is undefeated in its last five matches at Old Nassau.
Finding their touch
After not scoring for the season's first 310:04, Princeton has scored 10 goals in the last 439:27.
Shuffling the order
With the return of Diana Matheson, 16 Tigers have earned starts in the eight games this season with eight starting every contest so far. Princeton has used six distinct starting lineups on the season.
Be ready to play
Every non-goalkeeper on the roster has seen action for Princeton this season. Additionally, Aly Pont, one of four goalkeepers on the roster, closed out a shutout against Sacred Heart last week making her collegiate debut.
Steady keeper
Princeton goalkeeper Maren Dale has started the Tigers' last 24 games and has a goals-against average of 1.07 in that span.
Turning 40
Junior defender Taylor Numann, a first-team All-Ivy honoree in 2006, has started every game of her career, a streak 40 contests long.
On Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights also enter Tuesday's game following a 2-1 league win after beating Georgetown Sunday. Rutgers is 6-3-1 with eight players sharing the team's 17 goals. Sophomore Gina DeMaio scored her team-leading fourth against Georgetown and fellow soph Kristie Lang joined Karla Schacher with three. In net, sophomore Erin Guthrie has played all 934 minutes and carries a goals-against average of 0.87.
Start with A
With her goal 11 minutes into the Dartmouth game Sunday, Alexandra Valerio added Princeton's first goal of the Ivy League season to her accomplishment of scoring Princeton's first goal of the season overall on Sept. 14 at Notre Dame.
A quarter for your thoughts
Princeton has 111 shots on the season compared to 88 for its opponents. That represents 26% more shots per game for the Tigers than their foes.
No coincidence
Princeton has held the advantage in shots (65-22) and corner kicks (18-12) in its last three games, all wins.
Good indication
Princeton has now won its Ivy opener 14 times in 28 seasons. Its Ivy League record the first 13 times was a combined 57-19-7 with all five of its league championships.
Contributing right away
By class, Princeton's rookies lead the Tigers in points. With five from Alexandra Valerio, three from Libby van Beuren and one from Marissa Sampias, Princeton's Class of 2011 has nine of the team's 26 points. The sophomores, with four from Vicki Anagnostopoulos and three from Marci Pasenello, have seven. Jen Om's six points represents the junior class, and four from senior Melissa Whitley makes up the '08 contribution.
O Canada
Princeton senior midfielder Diana Matheson and Rutgers assistant coach Karina LeBlanc were both on Canada's 2007 Women's World Cup team.
Against the Big East
Princeton has faced seven teams currently in the Big East, including Connecticut, St. John's, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Villanova, Seton Hall and Rutgers. With the proximity, 45 of those 66 games have come against Rutgers (24) and Villanova (21), with eight more each against Connecticut and Seton Hall. Rutgers is the fourth Big East team Princeton has faced this year after Connecticut, Villanova and Notre Dame.