NEW DATE/TIME: Newly Ranked, No. 14 Tigers Set to Open Ivy Season Friday Hosting Cornell

Sporting their first United Soccer Coaches top-25 ranking since 2021, the No. 14-ranked Princeton women's soccer team will host Cornell Friday at Roberts Stadium as the Ivy League season begins.

vs. Cornell, Fri., 6 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Fan Information | Game Program | Free Admission

In the rankings: Princeton has been ranked in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 now 22 times in the eight competitive seasons under Sean Driscoll. The No. 14 ranking is Princeton's highest since Aug. 21, 2018, when the Tigers were also No. 14. Princeton's highest ranking under Driscoll was on Dec. 5, 2017, when that year's team, which made the NCAA quarterfinals, finished the season ranked No. 7. Princeton has been ranked in the top 15 nine weeks under Driscoll, all in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Princeton's jump from not receiving votes to No. 14 in the rankings is the highest for any team in the United Soccer Coaches Division I women's top-25 poll since Pittsburgh also jumped from not receiving votes to No. 14 in the Sept. 27, 2022 poll.

Tordin on a tear: Pietra Tordin has nine goals this season and has scored five game-winning goals, including both last weekend against No. 10 Georgetown and Quinnipiac. Tordin, who has already scored more goals this season (nine) than in her Ivy League Rookie of the Year season of 2022 (eight), is a goal away from turning in the 22nd season in program history, which dates back to 1980, in which a player scored 10 or more goals. It would be the 11th season in program history that saw 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. Tordin is also just a goal away from joining the top 15 in program history in career goals scored, as an 18th career goal would put her in a three-way tie for 14th in program history.

On offense: While Tordin accounts for nine of Princeton's 19 goals on the season, she is one of eight goal scorers on the season so far, with rookie Kayla Wong scoring two and Lily Bryant, Heather MacNab, Kate Toomey, Jen Estes, Lexi Hiltunen and Madison Curry getting one each. Eleven players have tallied an assist this season, with Tordin, Wong, Bryant and Drew Coomans getting three each.

SOG against: Princeton is on pace to hold its opponents to a Driscoll-era low average of shots on goal per game. Through the season's first seven games, Princeton is holding opponents to an average of 3.3 shots on goal per game. In Driscoll's first seven competitive seasons as Princeton's head coach, the Tigers have allowed between 4.0 (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 1.38 GAA while authoring solo or combined shutouts in each of Princeton's first three games of the season, against Monmouth, La Salle (shared) and Rutgers.

Stat rankings: Entering the week, Princeton ranked seventh in the nation in assists per game at 3.00, 14th in points per game at 8.43, and 29th in goals per game at 2.71, among top-30 rankings. Princeton's top-50 individual statistical rankings included Pietra Tordin's, with her No. 1-ranked five game-winning goals, third-ranked 1.29 goals per game, fourth-ranked 3.00 points per game, fourth-ranked 5.00 shots per game, seventh-ranked nine total goals, eighth-ranked 21 total points, and 18th-ranked 2.14 shots on goal per game. Cornell's top statistical ranking was 68th in shot accuracy, with 52.1 percent of the Big Red's overall shots being on goal. Individually, the team's top statistical ranking was 52nd, with Reagan Pauwels 0.5 assists per game.

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

Against the Big Red: Cornell snapped a lengthy losing streak against Princeton in last year's 2-1 win in Ithaca, defeating the Tigers for the first time since 1995. Cornell hadn't scored a goal against Princeton since 2016 before Laken Gallman scoring in the 23rd minute and Reagan Pauwels adding a goal in the 50th minute. Pietra Tordin opened the scoring with a 10th-minute goal, with last year's three goal scorers as the only current Tigers or Big Red to score against the other team. Tyler McCamey and Erica Fox, both still active for Princeton and Cornell, respectively, were in goal in last season's game, the only currently active netminders to play in the series. In Princeton, the Tigers have won 13 straight over Cornell since Cornell's 1995 win in Princeton, and the Tigers have authored eight straight home shutouts against the Big Red since last allowing a goal in 2005. It's a shutout streak that stretches 755:25.

On Cornell: The Big Red are unbeaten at 2-0-4 and have tied each of their last three games. None of Cornell's six games this season has seen either team score more than two goals, with the Big Red outscoring their opponents 9-6 on the season so far. Six players have scored a goal for Cornell this season, with Ava Laden, Mia Gonzalez and Maddie Leroy co-leading with two goals each. Natalie Medugno has played most of the minutes in goal, accruing a 1.00 GAA. Senior midfielder Kendall Patten is an alumna of New Canaan High School in Connecticut, where Princeton skipper Sean Driscoll was the head coach from 2001-03.

Up next: The Tigers will put their lengthy Patriot League unbeaten streak on the line on Tuesday when it heads to Lafayette for a 7 p.m. kick. The Tigers have won 11 straight against the Patriot League, including the Sept. 2 4-3 win over Army West Point, with Bucknell, in 2016, as the last Patriot League team to get a result against the Tigers. Princeton is unbeaten in 26 straight against the Patriot League since a 2010 loss to American. It'll be the Tigers' first game against Lafayette since 2012, a 5-2 Tiger win in Easton. The Tigers will resume the Ivy season with a visit to Brown on Sept. 30.

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