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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer to Host Cornell Saturday
October 28, 2009 | Women's Soccer
PRINCETON -- The Ivy League title race is heading into its final two weeks, and the Tigers will look to do their part to stay alive in the quest this Saturday when Cornell visits Roberts Stadium for a 4 p.m. contest.
Princeton (6-6-3, 2-2-1 Ivy) vs. Cornell (1-11-1, 0-5)
Saturday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. at Roberts Stadium
Live stats | Live video | Cornell page
Honor the seniors: Saturday will mark the regular-season home finale for Princeton's three seniors, Marci Pasenello, Melissa Seitz and Vicki Anagnostopoulos.
Fast finishers: Over the last six seasons, Princeton has mostly made a habit of putting together a solid finish to the campaign. Since 2004, Princeton has a regular-season record of 22-6-1 after Oct. 15. That includes an uncharacteristic 2-4 end to the 2007 season, without which the Tigers would be 20-2-1 after Oct. 15 since '04.
Keeping it positive, or at least neutral: Princeton is 3-0-2 over the last five games. During the stretch, the Tigers have picked up all seven of its points in the Ivy League standings after an 0-2 start.
The Ivy race: Princeton enters the weekend still alive in the Ivy race, but the Tigers will need some help to stay that way by the time their game, the last one of the weekend for the Ivy schools, begins Saturday afternoon. Here's the race breakdown:
-Harvard would get the NCAA automatic bid if the season ended today as the co-leader of the Ivy with a win over co-champ Yale. The Tigers have the tiebreaker over Harvard by virtue of last week's win, but not against Yale, which beat Princeton in the Ivy opener.
-There are six standings points still available and the Tigers have a five-point gap to make up. Columbia must win its game against Yale Friday at 7 p.m. for Princeton to remain in contention, while Dartmouth must defeat or tie Harvard at 11 a.m. Saturday. Of course, the Tigers must follow that up with a win over Cornell in the afternoon.
A new century: Princeton head coach Julie Shackford picked up her 201st win as an NCAA head coach with Princeton's victory over Harvard last weekend. That total includes four years in the 1990s at Carnegie Mellon, putting Shackford's win total at Princeton at 159. Shackford became just the 33rd active coach in Division I with at least 200 NCAA wins.
Series vs. Cornell: Princeton holds an 18-7-4 advantage over Cornell in the all-time series, which began with Princeton's first varsity game in 1980. The Tigers have won 13 straight over the Big Red, all since 1996. During that streak, Princeton has outscored Cornell 36-3 with 10 shutouts.
Speaking of shutouts: Goalkeeper Alyssa Pont and the Princeton defense have shut out their opponents for five straight games, a streak of 492:08. In 2008, Pont and the Tigers had a seven-game streak of 702 minutes.
Ivy leaders: Princeton leads the Ivy League with the fewest goals allowed, at 0.87 per game/0.82 GAA. Princeton also has the most shutouts, with seven, and number of corner kicks, with 93 overall and 6.20 per game. Individually, Alyssa Pont is the Ivy's leader in GAA at 0.82, in save percentage at .837, total saves at 67, shutouts at seven, and shutouts per game at 0.47.
Weekly honors: Princeton received both Ivy League weekly honors after the shutout at Harvard, Princeton's first in Cambridge since 1985. Jen Hoy was named the Ivy League co-Rookie of the Week for scoring her team-leading third goal of the season, while Alyssa Pont was named the Ivy League Player of the Week for her 10 saves in the shutout.
On Cornell: Sophomore Sidra Bonner has three of Cornell's eight goals on the season, and sophomore Kelly Murphy has been in net for two-thirds of the team's minutes. The Big Red will look to break an eight-game losing streak in which four of the team's five Ivy losses have come by one goal.