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Princeton University
North Carolina
Sunday's NCAA Round of 16: No. 13 Princeton at No. 2 North Carolina
November 18, 2017 | Women's Soccer
No. 12: Princeton is making its 12th appearance in the NCAA tournament. Princeton was in the first two tournaments in 1982 and 1983 before returning annually from 1999-2004. Princeton has won its first-round match in each of its last three NCAA tournaments, at West Virginia in 2012, at home against Boston College in 2015 and at home against Monmouth last week.
Monmouth game recap: Princeton outshot the Hawks 28-6 overall and 12-1 on goal with Mimi Asom scoring in the sixth and 66th minutes, Abby Givens scoring in the 21st and Carolyne Davidson scoring in the 71st.
N.C. State game recap: Princeton outshot the Wolfpack 17-8 in the teams' rematch Friday, but the Tigers needed penalty kicks to advance. Carolyne Davidson had the put-back goal in the 66th minute for Princeton before N.C. State answered in the 82nd with a Tziara King goal. N.C. State led the PKs going into the final round before Natalie Grossi came up with a big stop, Tomi Kennedy tied it up, both teams missed in the sixth round, Grossi made another save in the seventh and Davidson followed with the clincher.
Princeton vs. UNC: Princeton has faced UNC once, in a second-round NCAA game at UNC in 1982.
Common opponents vs. UNC: Both teams beat Wake Forest 2-0, Princeton on Sept. 4 and UNC on Oct. 8. Both teams beat N.C. State, Princeton 2-0 on Sept. 2 and UNC 1-0 in the ACC semis on Nov. 3. The Tigers also tied the Wolfpack Friday, of course.
Shutouts: Natalie Grossi's 11 shutouts surpassed the program record set by Kelly O'Dell '84 with 10 in 1981, and the Tigers' 12 shutouts this year are tied for second all-time with the 2004 team and behind the 13 from 2000.
Ivy and the NCAA: Princeton now has three of the Ivy's four NCAA wins since Yale was the last Ivy team to advance to the round of 16 in 2005. The Tigers beat West Virginia in 2012 and Boston College in 2015 and Harvard beat Central Connecticut State in 2014. Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale have all won NCAA games in their histories. Princeton, during its semifinals run to now-Sahlen's Stadium in 2004, was the last Ivy to make the NCAA quarters.
Stat rankings: Entering the weekend, Princeton's .882 (15-2) winning percentage was fourth in the nation, its .706 shutout percentage was fifth, its 0.353 GAA was seventh, its .887 save percentage was seventh, its 2.35 goals per game were ninth and its 2.12 assists per game were 16th. Individually, Natalie Grossi's 11 shutouts were sixth, her 0.375 GAA was seventh, and her .882 save percentage was 12th. Despite ranking ninth in goals per game, Princeton had no individual player in the top 20 in the stat while counting three in the top 70: Abby Givens (21st, 0.67), Mimi Asom (34th, 0.63), and Courtney O'Brien (69th, 0.53).
UNC ranked top-20 in winning percentage (seventh, .850), assists per game (seventh, 2.40), assists (eighth, 48), goals per game (11th, 2.30), GAA (11th, 0.484), points per game (11th, 7.0), goals (12th, 46) and shutouts (15th, 0.600). Samantha Leshnak was fifth with 12 shutouts and 12th with an 0.484 GAA.
Path to the postseason: Princeton fell 2-0 to Columbia on Oct. 14 at Roberts to find themselves three points behind the Lions with three games to play. Princeton won its last three while Columbia won the following week but lost to Yale on Oct. 28 and tied Harvard on Nov. 4, allowing Princeton to get past the Lions and win the Ivy title by two standings points, 18-16. The outcome gave Princeton its ninth Ivy League title overall and fifth outright, joining 2002, 2004, 2012 and 2015.
Garden Staters & Tar Heel Staters: The Tigers have three New Jerseyans in Tomi Kennedy (Glen Ridge), Sophia Gulati (Washington) and Samantha McDonough (Monmouth Beach). Only one New Jerseyan is on the UNC or roster Julia Ashley (Verona). Princeton has two North Carolinians in Abby Givens (Charlotte) and Emily Hilliard-Arce (Myers Park). UNC has 14 players from the Tar Heel State.
Coach Sean Driscoll: Princeton coach Sean Driscoll has the top winning percentage in program history at .769 (39-10-5) and is a two-time Ivy League Coach of the Year (2015, 2017), earning the honor in two of the four years it's been awarded. His 39 wins are already third-most in program history behind the program's first coach, Bob Malekoff (52, five seasons), and predecessor Julie Shackford (203, 20 seasons).
National rankings: Princeton debuted in the United Soccer Coaches rankings on Sept. 12 at No. 20 and climbed as high as No. 11 before the Oct. 14 loss to Columbia dropped the Tigers to No. 17. Princeton has since risen to No. 13 in the poll, where it has been the last two weeks. The Tigers were also No. 6 in the latest TopDrawerSoccer poll, No. 10 in the SoccerAmerica poll and ninth in the latest NCAA RPI.
Best records: Princeton's 15-2-1 record is in select company in program history. Princeton was 16-2 on the way to 19-3 in 2004 as the only other time the team was at least 15-2-1 through 18 games. The wins are the second-most in program history behind the 2004 team (19).
The goal scorers: Nine Tigers have scored this season, combining for 41 goals. All but six of those goals have come from players able to return next year, with a trio of non-forwards in Symanovich (two), Gregoire (three) and Larkin (one) accounting for the Class of 2018's goals. Four of the nine have scored their first career goals this season, including sophomore O'Brien (nine) and rookies Olivia Kane (two), Carolyne Davidson (three) and Eve Hewins (one). Sophomore Abby Givens and junior Mimi Asom co-lead the team with 10 each while sophomore O'Brien has nine.
Individual Notes
Sophomore forward Abby Givens (10 goals) has more than tripled her freshman-year goal total (three) during the regular season on the way to a first-team All-Ivy League honor. She is a two-time Ivy League Player of the Week honoree this season. She has three career two-goal games, all this season.
Junior forward Mimi Asom earned first-team All-Ivy League honors for the first time after two second-team honors and a Rookie of the Year recognition in 2017. Her 31 career goals stand sixth in program history (Jen Hoy '13 is fifth with 36), and her 69 career points stand eighth (Diana Matheson '08 is seventh with 78). She has five career multi-goal games with one hat trick, Oct. 29, 2016 at Cornell.
Sophomore forward Courtney O'Brien has scored all nine of her career goals this season on the way to a first-team All-Ivy League recognition. She has scored in bunches, netting four two-goal games this season.
Senior midfielder Vanessa Gregoire was named the Ivy League's Co-Offensive Player of the Year, the second Tiger to receive the honor (Tyler Lussi'17, 2014, 2015) since it was split into Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year for the 2013 season. It was the 11th time a Princeton player won an Ivy Player of the Year honor. Her 27 career assists, with the last coming Friday against N.C. State, surpassed by one the previous program record co-held by fellow Canadian Diana Matheson '08 and former teammate Lauren Lazo '15.
