Season to Begin Friday, Sunday with New England Trip for No. 14 Princeton

Friday, August 24

Durham, N.H.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

New Hampshire

Olivia Sheppard and the Tigers hosted New Hampshire, this year's season-opening opponent, at Roberts Stadium last season.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Season to Begin Friday, Sunday with New England Trip for No. 14 Princeton

August 21, 2018 | Women's Soccer

#14 Princeton at New Hampshire, Friday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m. | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | ESPN+ FAQ
#14 Princeton at Boston University, Sunday, Aug. 26, 4 p.m. | Live Stats | Watch (PLN)

The season will begin Friday for the 14th-ranked Princeton women's soccer team when the Tigers make a New England trip to play at New Hampshire Friday and Boston University Sunday.

It'll be the first game that counts for the Tigers since the NCAA quarterfinal run last fall, a stretch that saw Princeton beat Monmouth at home to open the NCAAs before heading to Cary, N.C., to advance past N.C. State on penalties and shock No. 2 North Carolina 2-1 in overtime with North Carolina native Abby Givens scoring the game-winning goal. Princeton then went to UCLA for the quarterfinals, where the eventual national runners-up won 3-1.

Preseason pick: The Ivy League announced its preseason poll, voted on by media and athletic communications contacts, Tuesday and Princeton won 15 of the 16 first-place votes while rolling up 127 of a possible 128 poll points. If Princeton follows through on that and wins the league, it'd be Princeton's 10th Ivy League title and would be the first back-to-back for the program since a run of three in a row from 2000-02.

NCAAs: Last year's NCAA run was the 12th NCAA tournament appearance in program history for Princeton, which has been to the NCAAs in two of the last three seasons and three of the last six (2012, 2015, 2017). The quarterfinal run was the third time Princeton has made it that far and second time in the 64-team era. Princeton won a game in 1982 to make the quarters of a 12-team tournament, won four times in 2004 to make the semifinals, and advanced through three rounds to make the quarters last year. The second-round game against N.C. State was the first time that a Princeton NCAA tournament game has gone to penalty kicks.

Who's back: Princeton returns the scorers of 37 of 44 goals from last year, led by 12 from current junior Abby Givens, 10 from senior Mimi Asom and nine from junior Courtney O'Brien. Princeton earned a program-record nine All-Ivy League honors last year and five of those are back, including first-teamers Givens, Asom and O'Brien and honorable mentions sophomore Lucy Rickerson on defense and junior Natalie Grossi in goal.

Who's not back: Vanessa Gregoire '18, a midfielder, was the 11th Ivy League Player of the Year in program history, earning Co-Offensive Player of the Year recognition. The Tigers also graduated three 2017 second-team All-Ivy defenders in Mikaela Symanovich '18, Natalie Larkin '18 and Katie Pratt-Thompson '18.

Who's new: Princeton has a six-member freshman class, a group that includes reigning New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year forward/mid Amy Paternoster and Mexico U-20 team member forward Gabi Juarez, as well as midfielder Caroline Noonan, midfielder/defender Emma Davis, defender Aza Keohan and keeper Grace Barbara.

The coach: Sean Driscoll begins his fourth season with the Tigers and is a two-time Ivy League Coach of the Year winner, earning the honor in the Ivy League championship seasons of 2015 and 2017. He's 40-10-5 in his first three seasons with Princeton and has the best winning percentage of any Tiger coach, ahead of first coach Bob Malekoff (1980-84, 52-18-5, .727). He is the third-winningest coach in program history and could pass Malekoff this year to stand behind only predecessor Julie Shackford (203-115-29 from 1995-2014).

The rankings: Princeton was ranked 13th by the United Soccer Coaches in the preseason poll before standing 14th in the first weekly poll. The Tigers were 12th in the preseason Top Drawer Soccer poll as well as that site's first two weekly polls. Princeton ended last season ranked No. 7 by the United Soccer Coaches and No. 5 by TDS.

Stat rankings: Princeton ended last season in the top 10 percent in the country in goals per game (16th, 2.2), GAA (14th, 0.541), shutout percentage (14th, 0.6), winning percentage (seventh, 0.825), save percentage (18th, 0.861), saves per game (17th, 2.0), points per game (16th, 6.4), total assists (21st, 40), total goals (23rd, 44) and total points (25th, 128). Abby Givens was 16th nationally in points per game (1.67) and 20th in goals per game (0.67), while Natalie Grossi was ninth with 11 shutouts and 17th with an 0.57 GAA.

The series with UNH: Princeton and UNH have played twice, both in Princeton. The Tigers won 2-0 in 1987 before the teams met for the first time in 30 years last season. In Princeton's sixth game of the season, UNH scored the first opposing goal of the season for the Tigers when Brooke Murphy tied it up at 1-1 in the 62nd minute. Courtney O'Brien's second of the day returned Princeton the lead about eight minutes later, and Carolyne Davidson scored seven minutes later to make it 3-1. Natalie Grossi made two saves for Princeton while UNH's Mia Neas, back for a graduate year this fall, saved four Tiger shots.

The series with BU: BU was the first opponent the program hosted at Roberts Stadium, which opened in 2008. Princeton leads the all-time series 4-2-2, and that stadium-opening game at Roberts was the last time the teams met. Princeton is 2-1-1 against the Terriers in Boston, with BU winning the last meeting there in 1-0 in 2007.

On UNH: UNH opened its season with a pair of overtime wins last weekend, 4-3 at Rhode Island and 2-1 at home against Holy Cross. Five players have split the team's six goals, with Ally Reynolds getting both OT winners, and Neas, the reigning America East Goalkeeper of the Year, has played all 200 minutes in goal. UNH edged Stony Brook for top honors in the America East preseason poll.

On BU: BU was picked second in the Patriot League preseason poll, getting six of the 20 first-place votes to finish with 142 poll points and behind only Navy's 154. Sophomore Anna Heilferty was the Preseason Player of the Year, and she and McKenna Doyle were both on the preseason all-league team, as were midfielders Julianna Chen and Dorrie Varley-Barrett. BU dropped both games on its season-opening trip to Michigan last weekend, falling 3-1 at Michigan and 2-0 at Michigan State. Heilferty has the lone BU goal and Amanda Fay has played 155 of the 180 minutes while allowing the five goals.