Make it Two! Tigers Complete Weekend Road Shutout of Top-20 Teams, Top Wake Forest 2-0

Monday, September 4

Winston-Salem, N.C.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

4-0-0

Wake Forest

5-1-0

Princeton

Wake Forest

North Carolina native sophomore Abby Givens had Princeton's first goal Monday at Wake Forest.

Make it Two! Tigers Complete Weekend Road Shutout of Top-20 Teams, Top Wake Forest 2-0

September 04, 2017 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Entering the weekend, the Princeton women's soccer team hadn't defeated an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent on its home field in eight tries all-time. Now, the Tigers have done it twice in three days, and both in shutout fashion.

Two days after a two-goal win over 20th-ranked North Carolina State, the Tigers went down I-40 to 18th-ranked Wake Forest and put up another 2-0 score, this time getting first-half goals from North Carolina native sophomore Abby Givens and junior Mimi Asom.

"It's a great pair of wins," Asom said. "We had a really standout performance from our back line both games, and I think the confidence in them, the confidence in each other will just keep growing and it will just lead to even more great wins the rest of the season."

Princeton didn't allow a shot on goal from the Demon Deacons until the final 20 minutes and ended up outshooting Wake Forest 6-2 on goal and 10-9 overall, outdrawing the home team on corner kicks 7-1.

"In both games, we made an effort to try to keep the ball and have a little bit more possession," Princeton coach Sean Driscoll said. "We talked a little bit more about doing a better job of keeping the ball and managing the game and making them work a little bit instead of always trying to go for the jugular with a long pass from behind. I think we did a much better job of picking and choosing our chances in the attack."

In the 13th minute, senior Natalie Larkin served a ball into the box that Givens bodied down and slipped past Wake Forest keeper Lindsay Preston, and in the 27th minute, senior Vanessa Gregoire put a ball into the box that Asom took before weaving through and whirling around a pair of Wake Forest defenders, burying the try inside the right post.

The win was Princeton's first against Wake Forest after losses in 2004 and 2012. The Demon Deacons had allowed only two goals all season, both to then-No. 3 South Carolina in a 3-2 win on Aug. 24, and hadn't been shut out at home by a non-ACC opponent since an Aug. 24, 2012 loss to UNC Greensboro, a streak of 22 games.

On the season, Princeton has started 15 players, adding the 15th against Wake Forest as sophomore midfielder Sophia Gulati got her first start. Rookie Lucy Rickerson, who made her first start Saturday at N.C. State, started again on the back line, and freshman classmate Olivia Kane, who started the opener, was in the starting 11 in the midfield alongside nine returners.

"We've got a good rotation of kids and people that are willing to do whatever it takes when they get on the field, and this team wants to grind," Driscoll said. "I think if you're willing to grind, you've got a chance to do well. It is early. We've got a lot to still learn, but it really is a tremendous weekend. I couldn't have asked for more out of a group of kids."

Princeton kept its shutout streak going behind sophomore keeper and reigning Ivy League Player of the Week Natalie Grossi and the back line, making it four consecutive zeroes to start the season for the first time since 2001, when the Tigers shut out their first five foes. The only other time Princeton began the season with at least four straight shutouts was 2000, when the Tigers also blanked their first five opponents.

With a three-game road sweep, including last weekend's trip to Villanova, now complete, Princeton will head home for five in a row beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. against Rider and continuing Sunday at 11 a.m. against New Hampshire, looking to keep the momentum going.

"I felt the same determination throughout the entire weekend," Asom said. "We came down here and we knew we were kind of in an underdog position, but we believed in ourselves and what we can do, and we knew that even if everyone else didn't think it was likely that we were going to come out victorious, we knew that it was completely capable for us. I feel like it was just a really good mentality that carried through from Thursday until today."