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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Boston College to Visit Women's Soccer Saturday as NCAA Tourney Opens
November 13, 2015 | Women's Soccer
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Princeton vs. Boston College Sat., Nov. 14 • 7 p.m. Roberts Stadium, Princeton, N.J. NCAA First Round |
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| 13-3-1, 6-0-1 Ivy | Record | 11-6-2, 5-3-2 ACC |
| Sean Driscoll, 1st season | Head Coach | Alison Foley, 19th season |
| 2.47 | Goals Per Game | 1.89 |
| 0.94 | Goals Against Per Game | 1.47 |
| Reg. Season, 3rd Ivy | 2014 Season Finish | Reg. Season, 10th ACC |
| 2012, 2nd Round | Last NCAA Tournament Appearance, Finish | 2013, Quarterfinals |
| 7-10 | Record in NCAA Tournament Games | 22-16-4 (3-1 PKs) |
| 2 | Series Wins | 1 |
| 2004 | Last Series Win | 1983 |
Video: Ivy League Digital Network | Live Stats | Twitter @putigers_ live | Fan Information | Tickets
Video of Princeton's NCAA Selection Show Watch Event
• Saturday's game will be the first NCAA women's tournament game at Roberts Stadium. The facility, which opened in 2008, hosted the first round of the NCAA men's tournament in 2009 and 2010. Fans will need a ticket for Saturday's game, and tickets can be purchased online here or by calling 609-258-4TIX(4849).
• Princeton has made it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012 and the 11th time overall. This will be the third meeting between Princeton and BC in the NCAA tournament, with BC winning 2-0 in the first round of the 1983 tournament (12-team tournament) and Princeton winning 3-1 in the Round of 16 of the 2004 tournament, both at Princeton's Lourie-Love Field.
• Saturday will mark the NCAA tournament debut for every player on the team except for seniors Emily Sura and Catherine Hartigan. Both players came off the bench in Princeton's 2012 NCAA tournament games at West Virginia and against Marquette. By contrast, six of BC's 11 starters and one of the three reserves from the team's last NCAA game, in 2013 against Florida State, are back this year.
• Both Princeton and Boston College are receiving votes in this week's NSCAA poll. The Tigers, who were ranked 24th in the nation last week, have the fourth-most poll points of those teams not in the poll, while Boston College received one vote for inclusion in the top 25.
• Boston College will face an Ivy League team in the NCAA tournament for the seventh time Saturday. Princeton is the only Ivy team to beat BC in the postseason. The Eagles beat Princeton in 1983, Brown in '85, Harvard in '99, lost to Princeton in '04, and beat Dartmouth in '05 and Harvard in '09.
• This will be the fourth all-time meeting between BC and Princeton. BC won 2-0 in the first round of the '83 NCAAs in Princeton, Princeton won 2-1 in OT during the 2002 season, and Princeton won 2-0 in the Round of 16 of the 2004 NCAAs in Princeton.
• The Eagles have been a fixture in the NCAA tournament, as 2015 will be BC's 14th appearance in the last 17 seasons. An 11-year streak of appearances ended last year, but prior to missing the tournament in 2014, BC hadn't lost in the first round since Connecticut advanced on penalty kicks in 2007.
• Princeton's 13 wins this season are tied for the fifth-most in program history, behind the 19 the team won in 2004 and the 14 the team won in 1980, 2001 and 2012. The team also won 13 games in 1981, 2000 and 2003.
• Princeton is in a similar position to its 2012 draw, in which it was an unseeded team in the portion of one of the bracket's foursomes that included a No. 1 and a No. 4 seed, with the difference being that the Tigers are the first-round home team this time. The next two rounds, barring an upset, figure to be at the home field of the No. 1 seed, which this time is Virginia.
• The Princeton-BC game is the last one in its eighth of the bracket to be decided, as the Cal State Fullerton at USC game, the UNC Wilmington at South Carolina game, and the Howard at Virginia game will all be on Friday night.
• Princeton faced four NCAA tournament teams this year, splitting the four games. Princeton opened with a 6-0 win over SWAC winner Howard on Aug. 30, followed that with a 3-0 loss to Rutgers, an at-large recipient out of the Big Ten, on Sept. 3, a 3-2 loss to Duquesne, the Atlantic 10 tournament winner, on Sept. 6, and a 2-1 overtime win over William & Mary, an at-large recipient out of the CAA, on Sept. 20.
• Princeton and BC were right near each other in the Nov. 9 RPI rankings, with Princeton 34th and Boston College 38th. The ACC had seven of the top 15 teams in the RPI.
• Princeton's 11-game win streak that ended with the tie at Penn last Saturday was the fourth-longest winning streak in program history, behind 14 straight in 1980 and 12 straight in 2002 and 2012. Still, Princeton's 12-game unbeaten streak is its longest in three years (12 in 2012) and would grow to the longest since a 14-gamer bridging the 1985 anad '86 seasons if the Tigers can get past BC.
• Princeton has played in 17 NCAA tournament games, and none have gone to penalty kicks. The Tigers are 1-1 in overtime in the NCAAs, losing in double OT at Wisconsin in the 2000 NCAA opener and defeating Villanova in double OT in the 2004 second round.
• Princeton is 6-2 all-time in NCAA tournament games at home: 4-0 in 2004, 1-1 in 2001, 0-1 in 1983 (lost to BC), and 1-0 in 1982.
• Princeton is 2-8-1 against teams in the ACC at the time of the game, but only two of those games involved any of the current Tigers. Wake Forest beat the Tigers in Roberts Stadium 2-1 in 2012, and Princeton beat North Carolina State 5-3 at Roberts in 2014. This will be Princeton's first meeting with BC since the Eagles joined the ACC in 2005. The only NCAA game involving Princeton an ACC team was in 1982, a 4-0 loss to North Carolina.
• Boston College is one of eight teams from the ACC that made the postseason. Seven of the eight teams were among the 16 seeded teams across the bracket, with BC the only ACC team not to be seeded.
• Of BC's 36 goals this season, 28 (77.8 percent) have come from McKenzie Meehan (16) and Hayley Dowd (12). The Tigers also have a one-two punch in Tyler Lussi (13) and Mimi Asom (10), but the Princeton pair accounts for 54.8 percent of the Tigers' 42 goals. Meehan was on the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, the top award in college soccer, and Dowd was a preseason All-ACC pick. The pair were also named to the All-ACC team, Meehan a first-teamer and Dowd a second-teamer.
• In goal, BC has looked to Alexis Bryant (1.62 GAA) for 1,219 of the team's 1,785 minutes on the season, with Bryant's record at 6-5-2. Alexandra Johnson (0.95 GAA) has logged the remaining 566 minutes with a 5-1 record.
• Head coach Sean Driscoll has surpassed his personal best as an NCAA head coach. He won 12 games with Manhattan in 2006. He's also just the second Princeton coach to win at least 10 games in his first season in the post, something Bob Malekoff did with 14 wins in the program's first varsity season of 1980.
• The All-Ivy League teams were announced Thursday. Tyler Lussi was the unanimous Offensive Player of the Year, winning the award for the second straight year and becoming just the fourth player in Ivy history to win back-to-back POY honors. None has won three in a row as she'll have the chance to do next year. Mimi Asom was the unanimous choice for the Ivy Rookie of the Year, Princeton's first since Alison Nabatoff '13 in 2009. Sean Driscoll was the Ivy Coach of the Year, Princeton's first in just the second year of the award. Vanessa Gregoire was on the first team All-Ivy with Lussi, while Asom, Emily Sura and Natalie Larkin were second-teamers and Mikaela Symanovich was an honorable mention All-Ivy.
• Lussi has 13 goals on the season and 41 on her career, making her even with Linda DeBoer '86 (41) for second on the program's all-time list behind record holder Esmeralda Negron '05 (47).
• Tyler Lussi has the opportunity to do some climbing on the Ivy League all-time scoring list as well as the Princeton list. The Ivy's all-time record holder is Kelly Landry of Harvard with 68 goals between 1981 and '84. The top three players on the list all played before 1990, so if Lussi can surpass Penn's Katy Cross (50 goals, 2001-04), she'd be the most productive scorer in the Ivy since 1988, when Theresa Hirschauer of Brown, who had an Ivy third-best 62 goals, wrapped her career.
• Princeton's 2-1 OT win on Sept. 20 over No. 23 William & Mary was the Tigers' first over an NSCAA-ranked team since defeating No. 21 West Virginia 2-1 in the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament. It was Princeton's first home win over an NSCAA-ranked team since defeating No. 15 Washington in the 2004 NCAA quarterfinals.
• Mimi Asom, who is a six-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week this season, has 10 goals to rank among the highest-scoring seasons by a freshman in program history. Two years ago, Tyler Lussi had 10 goals, and the program record for a freshman is 12 by Linda DeBoer '86 in 1982.
• In her first season as the lead starter in goal, junior Hannah Winner has a 1.05 GAA while playing in 15 of the team's 17 games.
• Heading into the NCAA tournament, Princeton holds four top-10 Division I statistical rankings, including third in assists per game (2.71), sixth in points per game (7.65), eighth in goals per game (2.47), and 10th in shots per game (18.88).
• Heading into the NCAA tournament, Tyler Lussi is second in the nation in shots per game (5.88), and is ninth in shots on goal per game (2.41).
• Heading into the NCAA tournament, Boston College's top statistical ranking is 47th in goals per game at 1.89. McKenzie Meehan's 0.84 goals per game is 10th in the nation.