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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
West Virginia
Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer Ends Season With 2-1 NCAA Loss to West Virginia
November 14, 2008 | Women's Soccer
With their 2-1 win, the Mountaineers will advance to face host Virginia Sunday afternoon in the second round. The Tigers finished their season at 12-3-2.
Princeton head coach Julie Shackford, who wasn't quite sure at the start of the year what kind of Tiger team she'd see after losing a senior class that included 2007 Ivy League Player of the Year Diana Matheson '08, appreciated how far the team had come.
“We lost a lot of kids,” Shackford said. “We had a goalkeeper (Alyssa Pont) who played nine minutes last year. You hate to say you're just happy you're here, but with this group, I'm happy I'm here. I wouldn't have predicted at the beginning of the season that we would make the NCAA tournament.”
Princeton had a tough draw with the Mountaineers, who advanced to the national quarterfinals last season before falling to eventual champion Southern California. Still, the Tigers ended the season without allowing more than two goals in a game and never losing by more than one.
West Virginia's Erica Henderson scored off a corner kick 10 minutes in, and the Tigers lost Pont, a first-team All-Ivy keeper, to injury in the 23rd minute after a collision in the box.
Kristin Watson, a talented freshman who had played two second halves and part of another on the season, entered in Pont's stead, only to be greeted by a deep ball into the top right corner of the net from West Virginia's Blake Miller less than three minutes after taking over.
Watson gave up nothing more, however, making four saves as the Tigers looked to climb back into the game. The Mountaineers lost the shutout when Virginia native Jen Om scored for the first time on the season, gathering a loose ball in front of the net off a corner kick and pounding it home with 1:32 left.
“There were some good stretches for us,” Shackford said. “Our kids battled hard the whole way, but at the end of the day, we lost to a very strong team.”