Tigers Set to Honor Seniors Saturday as Columbia Visits in Ivy Finale

Princeton's Ivy League Tournament opponent for next weekend is set, but the regular-season finale and recognition for the Tiger seniors are still ahead for this Saturday as the Tigers host Columbia.

vs. Columbia, Saturday, 3 p.m. | ESPN+ (simulcast on SNY & NBC Sports Philadelphia) | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Fan Information | Game Program

The seniors: Princeton will recognize its six-member senior class of Madison Curry, Jen Estes, Marissa Hart, Lexi Hiltunen, Aria Nagai and Morgan Wiese, a group that helped the program to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2021. Along with Senior Night, presented by Marriott Princeton Forrestal, Saturday's game is Let Her Play day, an organization promoting girls' participation in sports, founded by 2000 Princeton alum Gia Fruscione.

What's at stake: Princeton will face Harvard in the Ivy League semifinals next Friday and Brown is the top seed and host. Columbia and Dartmouth are tied for the fourth seed, and which team makes the ILT will come down to Saturday's results.

NCAA RPI: When the NCAA made its last official RPI announcement on Monday, Princeton was No. 9 of the 347 Division I teams in the NCAA's RPI released last Monday. All eight Ivy teams were in the top 200 with six in the top 100 and four in the top 30.

Talkin' about Tordin: Pietra Tordin, who earned her third Ivy Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season this week, has 12 goals this season and has scored seven game-winning goals. The seven game-winners tied her for tops in the nation alongside Nebraska's Eleanor Dale. Tordin's 12 goals already put her in a tie for ninth in program history for most goals in a season, and her 20 career goals over just two seasons put her 14th in program history. Among sophomores or younger, the program record for a season is 18, held by Tyler Lussi '17, who scored 18 as a sophomore in 2014. Mimi Asom '19 was the last Tiger to score as many as 12 in a season, hitting that number in 2018, and she was also the last Tiger to have 20 by her sophomore season, scoring 21. If Tordin scores another goal, the last Tiger to have 13 or more goals in a season was Lussi, who had 15 in 2015, and had 28 over her first two seasons.

On offense: At 32 goals, Princeton has well eclipsed its goal total from all of last season (25). 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 combined to score 43 goals.

Between the posts: Junior Tyler McCamey has played most of the minutes in goal this season, accruing a 1.17 GAA while authoring five solo or combined shutouts this season. She earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 9 for shutting out Penn and then holding Yale to a goal with 10 saves between the two games in a 2-0 week.

Stat rankings: Princeton entered the week ranking 23rd in the nation in assists per game at 2.27, 25th in shots per game at 17.13, and 30th in points per game at 6.53. Princeton's top-50 individual statistical rankings included Pietra Tordin's top-ranked seven game-winning goals, eighth-ranked 0.80 goals per game, ninth-ranked 1.93 points per game, ninth-ranked 4.33 shots per game, ninth-ranked 2.20 shots on goal per game, 11th-ranked 29 total points, and 13th-ranked 12 total goals. The Lions ranked fifth in GAA at 0.429, seventh in save percentage at .885, and 12th in shutout percentage at .643. Paige Nurkin is behind those high rankings, standing 12th in save percentage (.880) and 15th in GAA (0.500).

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 92 wins are second-most in program history behind predecessor Julie Shackford, who had 203 wins in 20 seasons from 1995-2014.

Series history: Princeton is 23-8-6 all-time against Columbia. In 2019, Shira Cohen had the goal for the Lions in a 1-1 tie. In 2021, Lexi Hiltunen had the goal against Paige Nurkin in a 1-0 Tiger win. In 2022, the teams played to a 0-0 draw with Tyler McCamey in goal for Princeton and Nurkin and Liz Matei each taking a half between the posts for the Lions. Columbia's last win over Princeton was in 2017, a 2-0 Lions win in Princeton, and Princeton wouldn't lose again that year until the NCAA quarterfinals. Since that game, Princeton is 2-0-2 against Columbia.

On Columbia: The Lions are 8-3-3 overall and 2-2-2 in the Ivy this season. In 12 of the Lions' 14 games this season, at least one team has taken a shutout, with Columbia turning in the shutout nine times. Twelve players have contributed to the team's 29 goals this season with Kat Jordan's six goals leading the way. Paige Nurkin has played better than 85 percent of the minutes in goal this season, allowing just six goals over 13 games.

Up next: The Tigers will face Harvard on Friday, Nov. 3, at 2 p.m. at Brown in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal.

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