Week Includes Top-25 Battle as Princeton Hosts Georgetown, Drexel at '52 Stadium

Thursday, September 13

Princeton, N.J.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Georgetown

Caroline Noonan and the Tigers will host No. 10 Georgetown Thursday at '52 Stadium.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Week Includes Top-25 Battle as Princeton Hosts Georgetown, Drexel at '52 Stadium

September 11, 2018 | Women's Soccer

#25 Princeton (5-1) vs. #10 Georgetown (5-0-2), Thursday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN Plus | ESPN Plus FAQ | FREE ADMISSION at '52 Stadium
#25 Princeton vs. Drexel (3-1-3), Sunday, Sept. 16, 6 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN Plus | ESPN Plus FAQ | FREE ADMISSION at '52 Stadium

The second top-25 battle of the season for the Princeton women's soccer team will come Thursday as the 25th-ranked Tigers host No. 10 Georgetown Thursday at 7 p.m. The Tigers' final pre-conference game will come Sunday at 6 p.m. against Drexel. Both games will be on Sherrerd Field at the Class of 1952 Stadium, the home of Princeton lacrosse, due to field conditions at Myslik Field.

Top-25 Matchup: Princeton entered the season with two top-25 games on the schedule, and the second of those is Thursday against new No. 10 Georgetown. Princeton fell to then-No. 13 North Carolina State on Sept. 2 at Myslik Field. It'll be a matchup of two of the top three teams in the United Soccer Coaches East Region poll, with Georgetown first and Princeton third. Butler, Georgetown's Big East foe, is second.

The prognostications: The Georgetown game will be Princeton's third game against a preseason league champion pick, including wins over New Hampshire (America East) and Hofstra (CAA). The Tigers were the preseason pick in the Ivy, getting 15 of 16 first-place votes.

Georgetown defender Meaghan Nally was the Big East Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Arielle Schechtman was the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, and forwards Amanda Carolan and Caitlin Farrell joined Nally and Schechtman on the Preseason All-Big East Team. Drexel was picked fourth in the CAA, with midfielder Shaelyn McCarty and defender Kierra Hennessy on the Preseason All-CAA Team.

The coach: Sean Driscoll is in 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 45-11-5 in his first three-plus seasons with Princeton and has the best winning percentage (.779) 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).

Stat rankings: Entering Tuesday, Mimi Asom was tied for fifth nationally in goals per game at 1.0, 11th in total goals at six, 16th in points per game at 2.0. As a team, Georgetown ranked 10th in save percentage (.914) and 17th in GAA (.403) with Arielle Schechtman leading the nation in save percentage at .963 and sixth in GAA at 0.184. Drexel's Shaelyn McCarty is fifth in shots on goals per game at 3.0.

The series with Georgetown and Drexel: This will be the first meeting with either Georgetown or Drexel. The Tigers have faced both of the other Division I teams in Washington, D.C. (GW, American) as well as all of the other teams in Philadelphia's "City Six" (Temple, Villanova, Saint Joseph's, La Salle, Penn).

Climbing the charts: Senior Mimi Asom has 37 career goals and 82 career points. Her 82 points tie her for sixth in program history with Lauren Lazo '15, one behind Jen Hoy '13 for fifth. Her 37 goals place her fifth in program history, two back of Emily Behncke '06 for fourth and four back of Linda DeBoer '86 for third.

Junior Natalie Grossi has 17 career shutouts as she looks to become the third player in Tiger history to hit the 20-shutout mark. Kelly O'Dell '84 holds the career record with 23.

On Georgetown: The unbeaten Hoyas have won four in a row since tying back-to-back games on Aug. 19 at Virginia Tech and Aug. 23 at Duke. The Hoyas have allowed only three goals all season, one each to Virginia Tech, Yale and George Mason. Kyra Carusa (four) and Caitlin Farrell (three) have seven of Georgetown's 10 goals. In goal, Arielle Schechtman (3-0-2, 0.18 GAA) has played five of the team's seven games with Lauren Gallagher playing against Yale and George Mason and allowing two of the team's three goals. There are eight New Jersey Hoyas, including rookie Devon Lis, who is a Princeton High School alum.

On Drexel: Sunday's game will also be Drexel's final contest before conference play begins. The Dragons, who will play at Providence this Thursday before coming to Princeton, will host James Madison next Thursday. Drexel enters the weekend at 3-1-3 with no team scoring more than two goals in any of the team's seven games, and only twice this season has Drexel or its opponent scored as many as two goals, with Rutgers doing so in a 2-1 in on Aug. 19 and Drexel getting two in a 2-1 win over St. John's on Aug. 30. Shaelyn McCarty and Kiera Hennessy have scored three goals apiece to account for six of Drexel's eight goals, and Libby Baeza has played every minute in goal in accruing an 0.76 GAA.

Rookie impact: All six members of the freshman class have seen game action, with goalkeeper Grace Barbara making three saves for a shutout second half Sept. 6 at Rider. Gabi Juarez has two goals as the lone rookie to score a point this year, and Juarez, Caroline Noonan, Emma Davis and Aza Keohan have all been in the starting lineup.