Trip to Harvard Up Next for Women's Soccer Team on Saturday

Saturday, October 14

Cambridge, Mass.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

Harvard

The Tigers will head to Harvard in another key Ivy League weekend.

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Trip to Harvard Up Next for Women's Soccer Team on Saturday

October 11, 2023 | Women's Soccer

It's a big game in any year no matter the standings, but this year's game between Princeton and Harvard matches two of the top three teams in the Ivy League and with a chance to move closer to lock down a bid to the inaugural Ivy tournament at stake.

at Harvard, Saturday, 4 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats

Ivy standings: Brown leads the league at 4-0 (12 points) and with a one-game lead over Princeton and Harvard at 3-1 (six points). The top four teams in the league will make the Ivy League Tournament, and the top team will host the Ivy League Tournament and win the Ivy League championship, while the tournament will be for the league's automatic NCAA tournament bid. Brown has the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Harvard and Princeton. Dartmouth is in the fourth spot at 2-1-1 (seven points) with Columbia two points back (five) at 1-1-2. Yale, Cornell and Penn each have one point with an 0-3-1 league record. A Tiger win and a Columbia loss to Brown on Saturday would clinch an Ivy tournament bid for Princeton.

NCAA RPI: Princeton was No. 9 of the 347 Division I teams in the NCAA's RPI released last Monday. All eight Ivy teams are in the top 200 with six in the top 75 and four in the top 35. This week's opponent, Harvard, stands at No. 31.

Talkin' about Tordin: Pietra Tordin has 10 goals this season and has scored six game-winning goals. The six game-winners put her alongside three other players around the country with the most game-winners in the nation. Tordin, who has already scored more goals this season than in her Ivy League Rookie of the Year season of 2022 (eight) has turned in the 22nd season in program history, which dates back to 1980, in which a player scored 10 or more goals. It's the 11th season in program history that has seen a sophomore or younger score 10-plus. Esmeralda Negron '05 holds the program's single-season goal record of 20, set in her senior season of 2004, and Tyler Lussi '17, who put in 18 in her sophomore season of 2014, has the most in a season for a sophomore or younger.

On offense: Princeton is averaging 2.417 goals a game so far this season, and at 29 goals, already eclipsed its goal total from all of last season (25). The last time Princeton ended a season with a goals-per-game average that high was 2015, when the Tigers finished scoring 2.421 goals a game. Princeton has seen 11 players score a goal this season, marking the second time in three seasons that Princeton has seen 10-plus goal scorers. In 2021, 14 Tigers scored a goal.

SOG against: Princeton is close to on pace to hold its opponents to a Driscoll-era low average of shots on goal per game. Through the season's first 12 games, Princeton is holding opponents to an average of 4.00 shots on goal per game. In Driscoll's first seven competitive seasons as Princeton's head coach, the Tigers have allowed between 3.95 (2017) and 5.2 (2019) shots on goal per game at season's end.

Between the posts: Junior Tyler McCamey has played most of the minutes in goal this season, accruing an 1.30 GAA while authoring four solo or combined shutouts this season. She earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors for shutting out Penn and then holding Yale to a goal with 10 saves between the two games in a 2-0 week. McCamey was the lone keeper in the league to have at least 10 saves and get a win on the week.

Stat rankings: Princeton entered the week ranking 16th in the nation in assists per game at 2.58, 22nd in points per game at 7.42, 25th in total assists at 31, and 28th in scoring offense at 2.42 goals per game, among top-30 rankings. Princeton's top-50 individual statistical rankings included Pietra Tordin's top-ranked six game-winning goals, sixth-ranked 2.08 points per game, 12th-ranked 0.83 goals per game, 12th-ranked 25 total points, 14th-ranked 4.25 shots per game, 16th-ranked 4.09 shots per game, and 17th-ranked 10 total goals. Harvard ranked seventh in the nation in assists per game (3.00), 12th in points per game (8.17), 21st in scoring offense (2.58 goals per game), 22nd in total points (98), and 30th in shots per game (17.00), shots on goal per game (8.00), and total goals (31). Harvard's top-50 individual stat rankings included Josefine Hasbo's 16th-ranked 0.60 assists per game and 36th-ranked six total assists.

Coach Driscoll: Sean Driscoll is in his eighth competitive season leading Princeton. A three-time Ivy Coach of the Year (2015, 2017, 2018), Driscoll has led Princeton to Ivy titles in 2015, 2017 and 2018, NCAA tournament bids in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2021, the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2015, 2017 and 2021, and the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017. Driscoll's 91 wins are second-most in program history behind predecessor Julie Shackford, who had 203 wins in 20 seasons from 1995-2014.

Series history: The Crimson lead the all-time series 27-13-1. Harvard won 3-2 last year with Heather MacNab and Lexi Hiltunen as the Tigers' goal scorers and Ainsley Ahmadian scored once for Harvard with those three players as the only active players between the two teams to have scored a goal in the series. Tyler McCamey made nine saves in last year's game. Princeton won 1-0 in its last visit to Cambridge in 2021 with Harvard's Anna Karpenko allowing the lone goal in the only appearance for an active Harvard keeper in the series. Princeton was the last team to win back-to-back games in the series, winning in 2017 and 2018.

On Harvard: The Crimson are 8-3-1 overall and 3-1 in the Ivy and are looking for their third straight win since a Sept. 23 loss to Brown. Ólöf Kristinsdóttir leads the team with six goals and co-leads with 14 points alongside Josefine Hasbo, who has a team-high six assists. Anna Karpenko has played most of the minutes in goal this season and has an 0.93 GAA. Since the Brown loss, Harvard has allowed just one goal in the past three games.

Up next: The Tigers are on fall break next week and will host Bucknell on Tuesday night before heading back on the road to continue the Ivy League season next Saturday at Dartmouth.