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Princeton University
UCLA
NCAA Quarterfinals: No. 13 Princeton at No. 4 UCLA Saturday
November 21, 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.
UNC game recap: Princeton took a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute when UNC keeper Samantha Leshnak attempted to clear a ball but saw it bounce off a UNC defender's leg and back into the goal. The Tar Heels tied it in the 25th minute, but North Carolinian Abby Givens scored the game-winner in the 99th.
Series vs. UCLA: The Tigers have never defeated nor scored upon the Bruins, playing in 2001 (2-0 loss at UCLA), 2004 (2-0 loss in the NCAA semifinals), 2005 (1-0 loss at Miami, Fla.) and 2012 (7-0 loss at UCLA). The 2004 game ended Princeton's longest postseason run in a game that took place at what is now Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, N.C., one field over from the pitch where the Tigers knocked off No. 2 North Carolina Sunday.
Common opponents vs. UCLA: The Tigers and Bruins have no common opponents this season. UCLA is 5-0-1 all-time against the Ivies, including 4-0 against Princeton, 1-0 against Harvard and 0-0-1 against Brown. A 2014 NCAA second-round win over Harvard was the last Bruins' match against an Ivy.
Quarterfinals: This will be the first NCAA quarterfinals for every Tiger, of course, but also the first NCAA quarterfinal for all but two Bruins. MacKenzie Cerda and Zoey Goralski saw time as subs in UCLA's 2-1 home loss to Virginia in 2014.
Princeton vs. the Pac-12: Princeton is 1-7-1 all-time against Pac-10/Pac-12 teams at the time of the game. The lone win? The 2004 NCAA quarterfinal against Washington, 3-1 at Princeton.
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 four of the Ivy's last five NCAA tournament wins since Yale was the last Ivy team to win multiple tournament games in 2005, making the round of 16. Princeton is the only Ivy team to make the quarterfinals since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 2001, doing so this year as well as in 2004.
The 2004 run: Though Princeton is still a win away from equaling the 2004 team's run, Princeton has won two NCAA tournament games away from Princeton in the same tournament for the first time in program history. The team's only other NCAA win away from campus came in 2012 in the first round at West Virginia. The 2004 team, the seventh overall seed that year, continued to win and host through the round of 16 and then hosted the quarterfinals as well after the No. 2 seed, Penn State, lost in the second round to Maryland. UCLA, which ended Princeton's run in the semis, was the No. 14 seed that year.
Stat rankings: Entering the weekend, Princeton is ranked in the top 20 statistically in winning percentage (fifth, .868), GAA (seventh, 0.414), save percentage (10th, .877), goals per game (11th, 2.26), shutout percentage (13th, .632), points per game (15th, 6.58), and assists per game (17th, 2.05). Individually, Natalie Grossi was ninth in shutouts (11), 10th in GAA (0.437), and 16th in save percentage (.869). Abby Givens was 17th in points per game (1.65). Though Princeton is 11th in goals per game, the Tigers have no players in the top 25 in the category but three in the top 104 (Givens, 26th, 0.65; Asom, 60th, 0.56; O'Brien, 104th, 0.47).
UCLA was top 20 in assists per game (sixth, 2.41), goals per game (10th, 2.32), points per game (10th, 7.05), assists (fourth, 53), goals (fifth, 51), points (fourth, 155) and winning percentage (sixth, .864). Ashley Sanchez was fifth in assists (11) and ninth in assists per game (0.52). Hailie Mace was 16th in goals (13).
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.
SoCal Tigers: Princeton has seven Californians in all, two from the San Diego area (Lucy Rickerson, Ali Whiting), one from San Francisco (Mikaela Symanovich), and three L.A.-area Tigers: Katie Pratt-Thompson (Long Beach), Kelli Calhoun (Canyon Country), Courtney O'Brien (Pacific Palisades) and Tatum Gee (Buena Park).
Coach Sean Driscoll: Princeton coach Sean Driscoll has the top winning percentage in program history at .773 (40-10-5) 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. 4 in the latest TopDrawerSoccer poll, No. 10 in the SoccerAmerica poll and ninth in the latest NCAA RPI.
Best records: Princeton's 16-2-1 record is in select company in program history. Princeton was 17-2 on the way to 19-3 in 2004 as the only other time the team was at least 16-2-1 through 19 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 43 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 leads the team with 11 and junior Mimi Asom is second with 10.
Individual Notes
Sophomore forward Abby Givens (11 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 70 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.
