Ivy Title, Tourney Host At Stake as Women's Soccer Heads to Brown Saturday

Saturday, November 1

Providence, R.I.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

Brown

Dylan Jovanovic and the Tigers will take on Brown this weekend in Rhode Island.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Ivy Title, Tourney Host At Stake as Women's Soccer Heads to Brown Saturday

October 26, 2025 | Women's Soccer

After four straight wins, including three in Ivy League play, the Princeton women's soccer team has gone from being in danger of missing the Ivy League Tournament to winning the Ivy title and hosting the tournament. The Tigers can accomplish both with a win on Saturday at Brown.

at Brown, Saturday, 1 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats

The Ivy title & tourney race: Heading into the final weekend, five teams are still alive for at least a share of the Ivy title, in Princeton, Brown, Harvard, Columbia and Dartmouth. Princeton wins the Ivy title outright if it defeats Brown, regardless of other results, as Princeton would get to 15 points, a total no other team could reach. A loss would eliminate the Tigers from the Ivy title, and a tie would turn the Tigers into scoreboard watchers, needing Dartmouth to lose or tie against Cornell. Those five teams are the only ones alive for the four spots in the Ivy tournament, with Princeton and Dartmouth having clinched their ILT spots. To host the ILT, Princeton will need to win, or to tie and have Cornell defeat or tie Dartmouth and Columbia defeat or tie Harvard.

Ivy historical precedence: If Princeton wins on Saturday, it would be the first two-loss team to win the league since the Ivy began playing league games in 1982. Since 1991, which was the first year the Ivy had eight varsity women's soccer teams, only once has a team won the league with today's equivalent of 15 or fewer points, which was when Penn won with 14 points in 2010 on a 4-1-2 record (Prior to 2005, the league awarded two points for a win, and if three points had been awarded prior to 2005, the 2010 Penn team would still be the only one that won with 15 or fewer).

Princeton history notes: A 2025 Ivy title would make it back-to-back Ivy titles for the Tiger women's soccer program and would be the first back-to-back Ivy titles for the Tigers since 2017 and 2018, which was the last time before 2024 that Princeton finished atop the league. Though the program has won 11 Ivy titles, a win Saturday would mark the first time in program history that the team won back-to-back outright Ivy titles. Princeton's opponent on Saturday knows about winning multiple league titles, with Brown having been the last team to repeat, winning four straight from 2019-23 (no title awarded in 2020).

On Princeton: The Tigers (6-5-3, 4-2-0), who started 0-2-3 and then 2-5-3, are above .500 for the first time all year and are just a win away from the Ivy title. The Tigers are up to 11 goal scorers on the season, with three players having scored their first season or career goals over the last four games, including rookie Julia Johnson (one) and sophomore Dylan Jovanovic (two), who scored their first career goals, and senior Drew Coomans (one), who scored for the first time this season. In goal, the tandem of Sydney Romano and Cecilia Cerone has worked out well, with Romano working the first halves during the run and going unscored upon while making five saves and Cerone holding an 0.50 GAA during the run with one goal allowed on eight shots on goal.

What's changed?: During the 2-5-3 start, Princeton scored six goals and allowed 15, scored on just 4.5 percent of their shots, saw 32 percent of their overall shots go on frame, and averaged just one assist per game. The team's GAA was at 1.50 and the save percentage was at .681. Since then, in the 4-0 run, Princeton has scored 10 goals and allowed just one, has scored on 20.8 percent of its shots, has seen 41.5 percent of its overall shots go on frame, and is averaging 2.5 assists per game. The GAA has been just 0.25 per game during the run and the save percentage has been .923. Individually, Alexandra Barry has gotten going, having scored a goal and adding an assist over the first 10 games before scoring two goals and adding two assists over the last four games. Over the first 10 games, seven Tigers scored goals. The number is already higher over the last four games, with eight players having scored over the more recent span.

On Brown: The Bears (9-2-4, 3-1-2 Ivy) will be looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since taking three straight against Central Connecticut, Providence and Yale from Sept. 14-21. Despite having faced every other team in the league except each other, and both being in the top two spots in the Ivy standings, Princeton and Brown have had the same results against just two opponents. Princeton was a 1-0 winner over Penn while the Bears won 4-0, and both teams defeated Cornell 2-0. Princeton defeated Columbia 2-0 while the Bears lost to the Lions 2-1. Princeton was a 2-0 winner over Dartmouth while the Bears and Big Green tied 0-0. Brown and Harvard tied 2-2 while Princeton lost to the Crimson 2-0. Princeton lost to Yale 1-0 while the Bears defeated the Bulldogs 5-2. Brown has outscored opponents this season 33-12 with Joy Okonye and Naya Cardoza scoring seven each, Ayla Sahin scoring five, and Corine Gregory scoring four as the Bears who have scored more than the Tigers' leading scorer, Alexandra Barry, who has scored three. Bella Schopp has played most of the minutes (995 out of 1,350) in goal this season, holding a 1.09 GAA with a 5-2-4 record and a .647 save percentage, and in Ivy play, Schopp has played 436 of the 540 minutes, holding a 1.24 GAA with a 2-1-2 record and a .600 save percentage. Rookie Addison Etter played the full 90 in goal last time out against Cornell, turning in a seven-save shutout. Brown entered the week ranking ninth in Division I in shots on goal per game, at 8.47. Bears sophomore Brooke Birtwistle and Tiger rookie Maddie Recupero share a hometown, Hopkinton, Mass., and an alma mater in Hopkinton High School.

The series: Last year's 8-0 Tiger win in Princeton was resounding, but just three of the goal scorers are back, with Lily Bryant and Heather MacNab, who scored a goal each, and Pietra Tordin, who had a hat trick, having headed to the pros. Isabella Garces, Grace Rossner and Ally Murphy, who had the last three goals, are back and are the only active players on either side to have scored a goal in the series. Both Brown keepers are back, with Bella Schopp having allowed five of the goals in 68 minutes with two saves and Gurleen Toor allowing three over the last 22 minutes without a save. Schopp does have a win over the Tigers, backstopping the Bears in a 6-1 win in the 2022 game in Princeton, making two saves. The 2024 win broke a five-game Brown winning streak in the series, with Princeton's last win before 2024 coming in 2017 in Providence. That win broke a three-game road skid for Princeton against Brown, and if the 2023 Ivy semifinal loss to Harvard is included, the opponent has taken four straight from the Tigers on Brown's home field.

Outshoot 'em: In 178 games under Sean Driscoll, Princeton has outshot its opponent in overall shots 135 times and has equaled its opponent in total shots three times, getting outshot 40 times, or in just more than once every five games (22.5 percent).

Preseason polls: Princeton and Brown occupied the top two spots in the Ivy preseason poll and combined for 15 of the 16 first-place votes, with Princeton at nine and Brown six. The Tigers had eight athletic All-Ivy honorees last year but took a huge hit with losses to graduation and the pros. Pietra Tordin, who chose to forgo her senior season to turn pro with the NWSL's Portland Thorns, was the Ivy Offensive Player of the Year in 2024, and Lily Bryant, Heather MacNab and Tyler McCamey all graduated and went on to the pro ranks, with Bryant at FC Porto in Portugal, MacNab with the NWSL's North Carolina Courage, and McCamey with the NWSL's KC Current. On the second team, Ryann Brown is using a graduate season at North Carolina and Kate Toomey graduated, leaving Zoe Markesini and Drew Coomans as the only returning 2024 All-Ivy honorees for the Tigers. Markesini has missed time since leaving the Aug. 31 game against Syracuse due to injury. Brown had five All-Ivy honorees in 2024, including the Ivy Rookie Player of the Year in midfielder Ella Weil. Of the five, four are back, including first-team midfielder Joy Okonye, second-teamers in forward Ayla Sahin and Weil, and honorable-mention backliner Naya Cardoza.

Tigers in the NWSL: Princeton has six players currently on NWSL rosters. Pietra Tordin, who turned pro following her junior season last school year, has already twice been named the NWSL Rookie of the Month, doing so in June and adding the second in August. Heading into the upcoming regular-season finale, Tordin has played in 24 games for the Portland Thorns, starting nine on the season overall, including five of the team's last seven games, and scoring four goals on the season. Tyler Lussi '17 started 12 straight games for the North Carolina Courage's from June through Oct. 4, scoring both of her season's goals in that span. Aria Nagai '24 started and logged 86 minutes in the team's most recent game, against the Seattle Reign, and has played in nine of the last 11 games, and Madison Curry '24 started her 17th straight game and 23rd on the season in the Seattle Reign's mos recent game, against Nagai's Utah Royals. Heather MacNab '25 made her pro debut for the North Carolina Courage on Sept. 13 against Angel City FC, and Tyler McCamey '25 was signed to the KC Current on Sept. 5. The final day of the NWSL regular season is set for Sunday. Along with the NWSL six, Lily Bryant '25 is playing in Portugal for FC Porto, making her pro debut on Sept. 13.

The staff: Head coach Sean Driscoll is in his 11th year with Princeton and 10th competitive season (team did not compete in 2020), and has the most Ivy League Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year honors since the award began in 2014, with four (2015, 2017, 2018, 2024). He's Princeton's second-winningest coach, with 113 wins (Julie Shackford, 203 wins, 1995-2014), and with his 40 wins at Manhattan (2005-09) added in, Driscoll has 153 career victories. Associate Head Coach Mike Poller has been with Driscoll for the entire Tiger tenure, and assistant coach Chris Duggan is in his fourth season with the program. Under Driscoll, Princeton has won four Ivy League titles (2015, 2017, 2018, 2024) and has made six NCAA tournaments (2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024), making the second round in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2023 and the quarterfinals in 2017.

Individual notes:

0 • Sydney Romano • So • GK
• Made her career debut in relief at Loyola (Md.) on Aug. 24 and has played in eight games, starting the last four in playing shutout first halves against Cornell, Dartmouth, Lehigh and Columbia
• Has allowed three goals this season, one at Loyola and two at Army, to hold an 0.73 GAA and an .833 save percentage in 372 minutes

1 • Cecilia Cerone • Jr. • GK
• Following the graduation of Tyler McCamey '25 (now with NWSL's KC Current), has already seen four times as much time between the posts (888 min) as she had over her first two seasons (222 min)
• Has played in all 14 games this season, going the full 90 six times, and splitting halves with Sydney Romano in seven others while leaving the Miami game on Sept. 4 after 33 minutes due to injury
• Holds a 1.32 GAA this season with a .683 save percentage
• Psychology major

2 • Anna Chau • Fr. • M/D
• Played in each of the first seven games of her rookie season and made six starts, including in her collegiate debut Aug. 22 against Rutgers
• Has missed time due to injury since the Sept. 14 game at Army West Point
• Averages 67.6 minutes per game this season

4 • Caroline Kane • Sr. • D
• Has played in 12 games this season, the second-most games played in a season in her career, behind only the 13 games she played as a rookie in 2022
• A backliner, earned her second career point, an assist, against Columbia on Oct. 25
• Averages 64.7 minutes per game this season and has gone the full 90 five times, including in each of the last three Ivy games, vs. Cornell, Dartmouth and Columbia
• Majoring in psychology and interned in the summer of 2025 with Major League Baseball's mental health and safety programs

5 • Drew Coomans • Sr. • F
• Two-time second-team All-Ivy Leaguer (2023, 2024)
• Has started all 14 games this season and 19 straight dating back to last season; has played in 67 games and started 50 in her collegiate career
• On Oct. 11 vs. Cornell, scored her sixth career goal, with her previous five coming between her sophomore and junior seasons
• Averages 81.2 minutes per game this season
• Economics major
• Spent two weeks in summer 2025 training with the NWSL's Portland Thorns

6 • Zoe Markesini • Jr. • D
• Co-captain this season
• Second-team All-Ivy League 2024
• Played in the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Colombia and 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in India for Canada, serving as a team captain with the U-17 team, starting all seven games between the two tournaments, and scoring a goal against France in the 2024 group stage opener as Canada made the round of 16
• Left the Aug. 31 game against Syracuse due to injury and has not played since
• Has played 36 games and started 30 during her collegiate career
• Scored her first two collegiate goals over Princeton's first two games this season, earning Ivy Defensive Player of the Week honors on Aug. 25
• Averages 78.8 minutes per game this season
• Majoring in psychology

7 • Grace Rossner • So. • M/F
• Has appeared in eight games over her first two seasons, all as a reserve
• Played a season-high 44 minutes on Oct. 21 vs. Lehigh, bringing her to 88 minutes on the season along with appearances against Rutgers (Aug. 22), Ohio State (Aug. 28) and Harvard (Sept. 27)

8 • Aditi Singh • Jr. • F
• Joined the team this season
• From West Windsor, N.J., just a few miles from campus
• Has played in two games, going 22 minutes against Ohio State (Aug. 28) and 29 minutes against Lehigh (Oct. 21)
• Majoring in mechanical and aerospace engineering

9 • Rebecca Sherry • Jr. • F
• Made her career debut this season and has played in eight games
• Averages 18.5 minutes per game this season
• Student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

10 • Dylan Jovanovic • So. • F
• Has played in all 14 games this season and started 13, surpassing her total of games started from last season as a rookie (seven)
• Has scored her first eight career points this season and has had her first career goals over the last two games, Oct. 21 vs. Lehigh and Oct. 25 vs. Columbia, adding to four assists on the season
• Has surpassed her total of minutes played from last season, having played 989 this season and 688 last season
• Has already taken more total shots this season (29) than last season (18) and is closing in on her number of shots on goal this season (eight) from last season (nine)
• 29 total shots this season stand second on the team
• Averages 70.6 minutes per game this season

11 • Maddie Recupero • Fr. • M
• Scored her first career goal to get Princeton on the board at Dartmouth (Oct. 18) and added another in the next game against Lehigh (Oct. 21)
• Has played in 11 games this season and has started five, including the last two, against Lehigh (Oct. 21) and Columbia (Oct. 25)
• Averages 49.3 minutes per game this season

13 • Sarah Houston • Fr. • F/M
• Scored her first career goal Sept. 14 at Army West Point and added another on Oct. 21 against Lehigh
• First career start came in the Army game and has played in 12 games this season
• Averages 30.9 minutes per game this season
• Sister, Erin, is a senior on Auburn's women's soccer team

14 • Nina Cantor • Fr. • F
• Has played in all 14 games this season and has started six
• Averages 55.7 minutes per game this season while playing between 41 and 69 minutes in every game
• Has two goals and two points this season, getting points in back-to-back games for the first time with an assist vs. Lehigh (Oct. 21) and a goal against Columbia (Oct. 25)
• Leads the team in shots overall, with 32, and is second in shots on goal, with 11

17 • Sophia Kurisu • So. • M
• Has played in two games, with 48 minutes against Lehigh (Oct. 21) and two against Columbia (Oct. 25)
• Played in 12 games last season, all off the bench while taking two shots, one on goal, and averaging 16.6 minutes per game

18 • Brooke Dawahare • So. • M
• Played in all 19 games last season and had 17 starts
• With 1,240 minutes played last season, was the team's returning leader in minutes played from last season, and with Alexandra Barry and Isabella Garces, co-led the returners with four goals scored last season
• Started each of the first three games this season before leaving the Aug. 28 game against Ohio State due to injury and has not played since
• Played 73 minutes in the opener against Rutgers and all 90 against Loyola the next time out before playing 28 minutes in the early exit against OSU

20 • Aubrey Crisostomo • Fr. • F/M
• Has played in 11 games this season and has started three games, all in October
• Averages 38.1 minutes per game and went all 90 for the first time in her career on Oct. 11 vs. Cornell
• Had her first career point with an assist against Ohio State on Aug. 28

21 • Julia Johnson • Fr. • D
• Has played in 13 games this season and has made 11 starts, including starts in each of the last 11 games entering the Brown game
• Scored her first career goal at Dartmouth (Oct. 18)
• Averages 77.7 minutes per game this season and has played the full 90 in 10 straight games entering the Brown game
• Shares a high school alma mater with head coach Sean Driscoll, Greens Farms Academy in Westport, Conn.
• Has a strong familial connection to Princeton, with both parents, Sydney and Jennifer, both in the Class of 1997, and brother Jalen in the Class of 2026
• Father Sydney was a two-time Ivy League champion hoopster at Princeton (1996, 1997) and was part of the 1996 team that upset UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament before winning Ivy Player of the Year honors in 1997; Sydney returned to coach the team from 2007-11, winning the 2011 Ivy title, and began as head coach of the WNBA's Washington Mystics in 2025

22 • Esmé Rudell • Jr. • M/D
• Has surpassed her 2024 total of minutes played (364), having played 507 minutes this season; had 433 career minutes entering the season
• Averages 50.7 minutes per game this season but has not played since Oct. 4 vs. Yale due to injury
• Majoring in politics
• Father, Kirk, is in the Princeton soccer Class of 1991 and co-produced soccer documentaries including Soccertown, USA (2019) about Kearny, N.J., and Voice of the Game (2022), about Manfred Schellscheidt, and co-hosts a soccer podcast, An American Game.

23 • Summer Pierson • Sr. • M/D
• Has played in seven games this season
• Averages 25.6 minutes per game this season
• Matched her career highs of seven games played this season; last season, started a career-high three games and played 240 minutes
• First and so far only career points came on a goal against Drexel on Sept. 12, 2024
• Majoring in art and archaeology

24 • Pia Beaulieu • Sr. • M
• Has played in 10 games this season and has started eight after missing early-season games due to injury
• Has surpassed her previous career high in minutes played (544 last season) with 720 minutes played this season
• Has scored a goal (Sept. 4 at Miami) and added an assist (Oct. 21 vs. Lehigh) after notching her first two career goals and first three assists last season
• Averages 72 minutes per game this season and went the full 90 for the second time this season against Columbia (Oct. 25)
• Student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

25 • Kelsee Wozniak • Sr. • D
• Has started all 14 games this season and has played the full 90 in 10 games
• Career-high three goals and three assists came as a rookie in 2022
• Has surpassed her previous career high in minutes played (1,004 last season), having played 1,169 this season
• Career-high 14 starts this season after nine as a rookie and a junior
• Averages 83.5 minutes per game this season and has played no fewer than 52
• Politics major

27 • Alexandra Barry • So. • F
• Was the team's leading returning scorer from 2024, totaling 13 points on four goals and five assists
• Played in all 19 games last season and made seven starts
• Has three goals this season, against Ohio State (Aug. 28), Cornell (Oct. 11) and Lehigh (Oct. 21)
• Has 10 starts this season, surpassing her seven starts last season as a rookie, and has surpassed her 2024 minutes total of 680, having played 740 (52.9 mpg average)
• Has taken 27 total shots this season and 10 on goal, standing second on the team in shots on goal, after 27 total shots last season and 11 on goal
• Averages 52 minutes per game this season

28 • Kayla Wong • Jr. • M
• Has started all 14 games this season after playing in 18 of 19 and starting 17 last season
• Career-high three goals came last season and career-high five assists, on the way to a career-high nine points, came as a rookie in 2023
• Career-high 28 total shots and 12 shots on goal came last season; has 15 total shots and seven shots on goal this season
• Averages 77.6 minutes per game this season
• Economics major

30 • Isabella Garces • Jr. • F
• Made her season debut Sept. 14 at Army West Point after missing early-season games due to injury; scored the goal in the team's 1-0 win at Penn on Sept. 19 and added another Oct. 21 vs. Lehigh
• Has played in eight games this season and averages 34.5 minutes per game
• Played in a career-high 15 games last season and started two games; has equaled the start total with two this season
• Career-high 421 minutes, 23 total shots and seven shots on goal came last season
• Co-led this year's returners with four goals last season
• Student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

36 • Ally Murphy • Sr. • F
• Co-captain this season
• Has played in 13 games this season and has started 10
• Scored on a penalty kick against Villanova on Sept. 11 for her second career goal; first came on Oct. 5, 2024 against Brown
• With 582 minutes played this season, has surpassed her career high of 363 set in 2022
• Averages 44.8 minutes per game this season
• Student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

51 • Carson Proctor • Fr. • GK
• Has not yet played

Looking ahead: Princeton will play in the Ivy League Tournament, with semifinals set for Nov. 6 and the final set for Nov. 9, site to be determined by this weekend's results