No. 20 Princeton Blanks Saint Joseph's, Heads Into Sunday's Top-20 Showdown

Friday, August 31

Princeton, N.J.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

3-0

Saint Joseph's

3-1-1

Saint Joseph's

Princeton

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

No. 20 Princeton Blanks Saint Joseph's, Heads Into Sunday's Top-20 Showdown

August 31, 2018 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

It'll be a meeting of national top-20 teams Sunday night on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, but before that, the 20th-ranked Princeton women's soccer team as well as No. 13 North Carolina State had Friday-night dates with a pair of Philadelphia Big Five teams.

After N.C. State took care of its half, using a third-minute goal to hand Penn its first loss of the year, Princeton got on the board in the seventh minute and added two more, with senior Mimi Asom adding her third and fourth goals of the season after the break to beat previously undefeated Saint Joseph's 3-0.

It was the first time on the new season the Hawks, whom the Tigers hadn't met since 2013, were blanked. Sunday's 7 p.m. game will bring another unbeaten team to Princeton, with the Wolfpack standing 4-0-1 as Princeton improved to 3-0. Admission to Sunday's game, and all regular-season home games, is free.

Tomi Kennedy got Princeton on the board in the seventh minute when she took a crossing pass in the 18 from Abby Givens and hammered it in from straight on, and in the 73rd minute, Asom took advantage of a free kick just beyond the 18 to bend it home for a 2-0 lead. Asom made it 3-0 just six minutes later when Emily Hilliard-Arce took an attempted Saint Joseph's clear off the end line and found Asom charging forward into the box for a 1-on-1 with Hawks keeper Grace Bendon.

Postgame Notes

• Princeton now leads the series with the Hawks 4-0 with wins in 2007, 2012 and 2013. The Tigers have still not allowed SJU a goal in the series.

• Princeton extended its season-opening shutout streak to a third game for the second straight year. It's the sixth time in program history Princeton has posted three straight shutouts to start the season, along with 1998 (three games), 2000 (five games), 2001 (five games), 2013 (three games), and 2017 (five games).

• The shutout was junior keeper Natalie Grossi's 18th of her career as she seeks to become the third Tiger in program history to notch 20 shutouts. The program record for career shutouts belongs to Kelly O'Dell '84, with 23.

• Senior Mimi Asom's two goals give her 35 for her career, keeping her in sixth place in program history and one behind Jen Hoy '13 and her 36 career goals. Asom now has 78 career points, moving into a tie for seventh in program history with Diana Matheson '08 and four behind Lauren Lazo '15 (82) for sixth.

• The three goals were the most Saint Joseph's has given up on the season and most since A-10 foe Saint Louis scored three on Oct. 1, 2017.

Mimi Asom and the No. 20 Tigers beat Saint Joseph's 3-0 tonight heading into Sunday's top-20 showdown with No. 13 N.C. State, including this #SCTop10-worthy bender of a free kick: pic.twitter.com/se2l6HcHCf
— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) September 1, 2018