.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Rutgers
Players Mentioned
Matheson, Shackford Set Princeton Records as Tigers Top Rutgers, 5-1
October 02, 2007 | Women's Soccer
PRINCETON -- The night turned from hopeful to good to great in a span of 10 minutes Tuesday on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.
Tied with Rutgers for 56 minutes, the Princeton women's soccer team benefited from an own goal and followed it up with three scores off Tiger feet in a span of less than five minutes to record a 5-1 victory, the biggest margin over their in-state rivals since the series was two matches old in 1981.
In Diana Matheson's second game back from the Women's World Cup in China, she assisted on all four goals scored by Princeton players, bettering the previous single-game record by one. The four helpers were also enough to lift her past Kathy Kobler '91 and into first place on the career assist list at 23.
"I've been fortunate to play with some great strikers at Princeton like
Esmeralda Negron and Emily Behncke," Matheson said, acknowledging the
members of previous Princeton classes who rank first and third,
respectively, on the school's career goals list. "My parents are really
excited too."
With the efforts of Matheson and goal scorers Aarti Jain, Jen Om and Marci Pasenello, head coach Julie Shackford became the winningest all-time soccer coach at Princeton in either the men's or women's program with 137 victories. Shackford earned the record in 220 games while the previous record holder, former men's coach Jimmy Reed, won 136 of his 260 matches between 1938-66.
"I couldn't have done it without the great people that have been involved with the program and Ron Celestin has been my assistant coach for 13 years," Shackford said.
Rutgers scored first, making Tuesday's game just the third time in nine contests this season that Princeton's opponent had the game's opening goal. The Tigers had lost the other two matches, the season's first two games versus Connecticut and Boston University, but that trend wouldn't hold up.
"The New Jersey girls on the team really wanted to win this one," said Matheson, a co-captain, referring to Princeton's trio of Garden Staters in Lisa Chinn, Allison Williams and Melissa Seitz.
Alicia Hall got a foot on a pass in mid-air from Jenifer Anzivino 6:45 into the game to put the Scarlet Knights ahead. Princeton answered just more than five minutes later when Matheson headed a ball upfield that Jain scooped up and forced through the Rutgers backliners before pounding it into the net from beyond the 18-yard box.
The game stood tied at 1-1 until Princeton was the beneficiary of a bad bounce. Vicki Anagnostopoulos tried to lace a shot across the goal line, but a Rutgers defender attempting to clear the ball instead saw it bounce off her leg and into the net to give Princeton a 2-1 lead in the 57th minute.
It turned out to be quite a spark for the Orange and Black. Six minutes after the own goal, Om took a pass ahead from Matheson to double the Princeton lead. Two minutes later, Matheson found Pasenello with a pass across the box which Pasenello finished for a 4-1 advantage. Two minutes after that, Pasenello took a pass upfield from Matheson and weaved through a pair of Rutgers defenders to score the fifth goal.
"We've finished well the last four games," Shackford said. "Marci (Pasenello) stepped up a lot. This is just one of those games where you're in the zone."
In a span of 4:16, Princeton had turned a 2-1 game into a 5-1 blowout not seen in the series since the Tigers opened it in 1980 with a 6-0 win and continued the following year with a 5-0 triumph.
The win is Princeton's fourth straight, a streak the Tigers hope to continue back into Ivy League play Saturday at Brown. In a 4 p.m. kick, Princeton will look to maintain the positive Ivy start it began with a win at Dartmouth last weekend.