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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard
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Defense, Hoy's Late Goal Give Women's Soccer Shutout at Harvard
October 24, 2009 | Women's Soccer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Jen Hoy hadn't yet joined the Princeton women's soccer team when its then-undefeated Ivy League season came to a halt two years ago at Harvard, nor was she on the team last year when the Crimson again became Princeton's first, and as it turned out, only Ivy League loss.
Even though the rookie Hoy did not experience any of that recent history first-hand, you can bet she's just as pleased as anyone who was there when Hoy's 86th-minute goal ended that mini-streak Saturday afternoon.
Princeton (6-6-3, 2-2-1 Ivy) moved within a win of clinching head coach Julie Shackford's 12th straight non-losing season at Princeton. More importantly, the win keeps the Tigers alive, however tenuously, in the Ivy League race.
First-place Harvard (7-6-1, 4-1), which saw its six-game winning streak end, led the league with 12 points. The Crimson are now joined by Yale at 12 points, while Princeton's seven points jumped ahead of Penn's six. Columbia (7) and Dartmouth (6) play Sunday at noon.
Hoy's goal was her first since Sept. 23 against Hartford, and it increases her team-best point total to eight with three goals and two assists. It was Princeton's 12th goal on the season as a team and first since Lauren Whatley's OT winner at Brown Oct. 10 before back-to-back dual shutouts.
Speaking of shutouts, Princeton's streak of not giving up a goal extended to 492:08, and the streak continued in one of the less likely places in the Ivy League. Princeton hadn't shut out Harvard on the road since 1985 in its bi-yearly visits and had only one shutout against the Crimson anywhere in that time, in 2006 at Lourie-Love Field.
The defense was huge against Harvard, which outshot Princeton 17-14 and forced goalkeeper Alyssa Pont to make 10 saves. Pont's goals-against average lowered again to 0.82, while her save percentage rose to .837. It is the first time all season Pont's GAA has been lower than her save percentage, something that was true for the last 15 games of the 2008 season, during which Princeton ran a seven-game shutout streak that lasted 702 minutes.
Princeton will have its home finale next Saturday against Cornell at 4 p.m. at Roberts Stadium.