Pair of Top-20 Opponents Ahead for Women's Soccer Team on Trip to North Carolina

Saturday, September 2

Raleigh, N.C.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

North Carolina State

Mimi Asom and the Tigers will head to North Carolina for Labor Day weekend.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Pair of Top-20 Opponents Ahead for Women's Soccer Team on Trip to North Carolina

August 29, 2017 | Women's Soccer

Off to a 2-0 start for the third straight season, the Princeton women's soccer team will face a test this weekend when it heads to North Carolina for a pair of games against top-20 opponents, No. 20 North Carolina State Satruday and No. 18 Wake Forest Monday.

Both games will be video streamed on ESPN3 through the ACC Network.

Saturday, Sept. 2, 1 p.m. at No. 20 N.C. State: No Video | Live Stats
Monday, Sept. 4, 12 p.m. at No. 18 Wake Forest: Video TBD | Live Stats

The games are Princeton's first against a top-20 opponent since Sept. 16, 2016 at No. 2 West Virginia, a 3-0 Tiger defeat, and a win would be Princeton's first over a top-20 opponent since another game against the Mountaineers, Nov. 10, 2012 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, a 2-1 Tiger win over No. 16-ranked WVU. Princeton will again play a ranked West Virginia team in just a couple weeks, when the currently sixth-ranked Mountaineers come to Roberts Stadium Sept. 15 on ESPNU.

In the United Soccer Coaches' East Region rankings, Princeton jumps into the 15-team list at No. 12 after not being ranked last week, while Wake Forest is at No. 5 and N.C. State is at No. 7.

Princeton is 1-0 all-time against N.C. State, a 5-3 Tiger win at Roberts Stadium on Nov. 4, 2014. Only one goal scorer, Princeton senior Vanessa Gregoire, returns from that game. The Wolfpack won just two games that season but are now coming off an 11-win campaign in 2016 that saw N.C. State make the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament. The wins and the NCAA bid were both firsts for the program since 1996.

N.C. State will be bringing a shutout streak of 203:06 into the weekend, opening with a road sweep of Oregon (4-1) and Portland (1-0) two weekends ago before a 3-0 home win over Coastal Carolina last Thursday. Sophomore Tziarra King, who is fifth in the nation averaging an assist per game, co-leads the team with classmate Kia Rankin at two goals apiece, and junior Sydney Wootten has been in net for every minute of the three games while accruing an 0.33 GAA.

Wake Forest is 4-0 heading into a Friday trip to George Mason after a road sweep of Georgia (1-0) and Davidson (4-0) two weekends ago and a successful defense of their home turf last weekend against South Carolina (3-2) and Charlotte (3-0). The Tigers are 0-2 all-time against the Demon Deacons, losing 1-0 on the road on Sept. 19, 2004 and 2-1 at Roberts Stadium on Aug. 31, 2012.

Rookie Hannah Betfort leads the team with three goals while senior Lindsay Preston has played all but 63 of the team's 360 minutes in goal with an 0.61 GAA.

Princeton comes into the weekend after opening the season with back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2013, getting two goals from sophomore Abby Givens after one from senior Natalie Larkin in a 3-0 win over Monmouth last Friday at Roberts Stadium and another for Givens before one late from junior Mimi Asom in a 2-0 win at Villanova Sunday.

The shutouts put Princeton as one of 11 teams not to give up a goal yet this season and one of 36 teams, along with N.C. State and Wake Forest, to stand with a perfect win-loss record so far. Sophomore Natalie Grossi is one of 24 keepers with a perfect 1.000 GAA and one of 23 with a perfect 1.000 save percentage. Givens, who earned her first Ivy League Player of the Week honor after her three-goal weekend, is tied for third in the nation at 1.5 goals per game and tied for third at three points per game. Asom is also in the top 10 in the nation through Monday's games at an eighth-most 5.5 shots per game.

The trip will be a return to the home state of both Givens and classmate Emily Hilliard-Arce, both from the Charlotte area.

The weekend gives Princeton its last two road games before a run of five straight at home that begins Thursday, Sept. 7 with a 7 p.m. game against Rider at Roberts Stadium.