.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer to Open Season in California This Weekend
August 31, 2011 | Women's Soccer
Princeton (0-0) at Long Beach State (2-2)
Friday, Sept. 2, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
Live Stats
Princeton at Cal State Northridge (0-3)*
Sunday, Sept. 4, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
Live Stats
*CSUN hosts New Mexico Friday
The third-ever trip to California for the Princeton women's soccer program will begin the Tigers' 2011 season when Princeton visits a pair of Big West programs, Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge, this weekend.
Both opponents have been playing regular-season games for two weekends, though all eight Ivy League programs will begin their schedules Friday.
Long Beach State is up first for Princeton Friday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. local time in Long Beach, California. The 49ers are 2-2 this season, opening with a 2-1 win at USC and a 3-0 home win over Sacramento State before a two-game trip to Milwaukee, Wis., that resulted in a pair of one-goal defeats to now-No. 22 Wisconsin-Milwaukee and now-No. 11 Marquette.
Six 49ers have shared the team's eight goals this season, with junior Nadia Link, who led the team a year ago, with eight goals, already putting in two and senior Shawna Gordon, another All-Big West pick a year ago, also scoring two. In goal, the 49ers have used senior Kaitlyn Gustaves (1.50 GAA) for all 360 minutes this season. Long Beach State was an NCAA tournament team a year ago, falling 1-0 to Santa Clara in the first round.
The teams' rosters could hardly be more different geographically, with Princeton's 26-player roster drawing from 13 states and Long Beach State compiling its 31 players from Southern California with two Arizonans. The weekend trip will be a homecoming of sorts for Princeton's native of Southern California, junior Caitlin Blosser from Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles.
Blosser was Princeton's points leader a year ago, putting in six goals with seven assists for 19 points, while classmate Jen Hoy had seven goals for 14 points. Princeton returns 19 of its 20 goals from a year ago and 47 of its 55 points.
Blosser was one of four All-Ivy League honorees for Princeton from last fall, when the Tigers took the Ivy race to the final day of the season. On the Ivy League's second team were Blosser, Hoy and junior defender Alison Nabatoff, while sophomore midfielder Gabriella Guzman was an honorable mention.
While the Tigers graduated four players from last season's team, Princeton welcomed eight freshmen to a program that returns eight of its 11 primary starters from 2010. Between the posts, junior Kristin Watson played the most minutes last season, getting 13 of the 16 starts and posting a 1.09 GAA. The Tigers have five goalkeepers on the roster, including returners Watson and junior Claire Pinciaro, who started the 2010 season finale against Penn, as well as sophomore Cecilia Di Caprio and rookies Darcy Hargadon and MicKenzie Roberts-Lahti.
After a light practice Saturday, the Tigers will head to the San Fernando Valley portion of Los Angeles to take on Cal State Northridge at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. local time Sunday. The Matadors, who host New Mexico (1-1-2) Friday night, are still looking for their first win at 0-3 but haven't scheduled lightly, falling to now-No. 6 UCLA and a pair of Big 12 teams, Texas and Baylor.
Northridge, which has a similarly California-flavored roster to Long Beach State, picked up its first goal of the season from junior Melissa Fernandez in the team's last game against Texas last Sunday. In goal, Northridge has used junior Cynthia Jacobo for all but 35 of the team's 270 minutes this season, seeing Jacobo compile a 2.69 GAA. Both Fernandez and Jacobo were All-Big West selections a year ago. The Matadors were 12-9 overall and 5-3 in the Big West in 2010, finishing third in the conference.
The Tigers have never faced Long Beach State or Northridge. On its two previous trips to California, Princeton took on Cal Poly and UCLA in 2001 and Sacramento State and California in 2003.