Top-10 Opponent Up Next as Women's Soccer Team Heads to Penn State

Thursday, September 7

University Park, Pa.

7:30 PM

Princeton University

Penn State

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Top-10 Opponent Up Next as Women's Soccer Team Heads to Penn State

September 03, 2023 | Women's Soccer

Princeton is unbeaten through four games for the second time in three years and the fourth time in eight competitive seasons under Sean Driscoll, and the Tigers will face a tough test in keeping that unbeaten run going as it starts another Big Ten-Patriot League non-conference week Thursday at No. 6-ranked Penn State before heading to Lafayette on Sunday.

at #6 Penn State, Thu., 7:30 p.m. | BTN+ | Live Stats
at Lafayette, Sun., 2 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats

Historic performance: Pietra Tordin scored eight goals in her Ivy League Rookie of the Year-winning season in 2022, and she has almost equaled that number already this season. Tordin scored three goals over the season's first two games against Monmouth and La Salle, helping her win Ivy Offensive Player of the Week honors, and she tied the program record with four goals last Saturday against Army West Point. Tordin was the first Tiger to score four in a game since 2014, when Tyler Lussi '17 did it, also in her sophomore season. Tordin has seven of the team's 12 goals this season with rookie Kayla Wong (two), junior Lily Bryant (one), junior Kate Toomey (one) and senior Lexi Hiltunen (one) scoring the others.

Against ranked opponents: The Penn State game will be Princeton's 19th game against a top-25 opponent in Sean Driscoll's tenure at Princeton, which is in its eighth competitive season since beginning with the 2015 campaign. Princeton has won five of those games and tied three with the ranked opponent winning 10. All 18 games have been no more than three goals apart, and five have been decided in overtime, not including the ties. Princeton's last win over a ranked team came in the 2021 season against No. 9 Rutgers, a 4-3 win in Piscataway. Princeton's last game against a ranked opponent was also against another No. 9-ranked Rutgers team in Piscataway, in 2022, a 3-0 loss. Driscoll's teams have two wins and a tie in nine tries against top-10 opponents, with the Rutgers game in 2021 and the 2017 NCAA round of 16 win over North Carolina as the two wins and a 1-1 tie against Georgetown in 2021 as the draw. As of this week's rankings, Princeton is set to have its 20th game against a top-25 opponent under Driscoll in just another week, hosting No. 13 Georgetown next Thursday.

Between the posts: Junior Tyler McCamey has played most of the minutes in goal this season, accruing an 0.82 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 sixth in the nation in shots per game, at 22, and 14th in points per game, at 10. Pietra Tordin ranked first in the nation in goals per game, at 1.75, and second in points per game, at 4.00. Tordin is also second in shots per game, at seven, fourth in shots on goal per game, at 2.75, fourth in total goals, also at seven, and fifth in total points, at 16.

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

Series histories: Princeton and Penn State have only met three times, but not at Penn State until Thursday's game, with the Nittany Lions holding a 2-1 series lead. The teams haven't met in more than 20 years. Princeton's fourth-ever varsity game, in 1980, was a 3-1 Tiger win in Princeton. The teams met again in Princeton the following year with Penn State winning 1-0, but that was the last time the teams met in the regular season. In 2002, Maryland hosted Penn State hosted Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament with the Nittany Lions winning 2-0. Princeton holds a 4-0-1 series lead over Lafayette. The teams met annually from 1996-98 with Princeton winning all three, and the remaining two meetings were in 2011, a 2-2 tie in Princeton, and 2012, a 5-2 Tiger win in Easton.

Against the Patriot League: Princeton has won 11 straight games against Patriot League teams since a 2016 tie against Bucknell, and its unbeaten streak against the Patriot League stands at 26 games, since a 2010 loss to American. In the Sean Driscoll era, Princeton is 15-0-1 against the Patriot League, outscoring opponents 43-9 in those games, which came against Army, Boston University, Bucknell, Colgate, Lehigh and Loyola (Md.).

On Penn State: The Nittany Lions (5-0-1) hadn't allowed a goal at home until last Sunday's game against Monmouth, the team's fifth home game of the season, and Penn State has allowed just two goals on the season in its six games so far. An NCAA round-of-16 participant last season, Penn State was picked to win the Big Ten in this year's preseason coaches poll, giving Princeton two of the top three forecasted Big Ten teams as opponents in the span of a week. Princeton hosted Rutgers last Thursday for a 0-0 draw. Ten players have scored a goal for Penn State this season with six players scoring twice and four each adding one. Grad student Katherine Asman has played most of the minutes in goal, allowing one of the two goals against the team this season and accruing an 0.20 GAA.

On Lafayette: The Leopards are 4-1, their best record through five games since 2015, also a 4-1 start. Seven players have scored this season with senior Sara Oswald leading the way with three goals. Fellow senior Lindsay Dewar has played all 450 minutes in goal, accruing a 1.00 GAA. Three of Lafayette's five goals allowed came against Stony Brook as the Leopards allowed one each to Seton Hall and Saint Joseph's while shutting out Mount St. Mary's and Saint Peter's. It's an all-Ivy League week for the Leopards, who will head to Penn on Thursday.

Up next: While both Penn State and Lafayette will begin their conference seasons next weekend, Princeton will have one more weekend of non-conference play, hosting No. 14 Georgetown on Thursday, Sept. 14 and heading to Quinnipiac on Sunday, Sept. 17.