Four games played, still no goals against for women's soccer

The defense should be the story of the women's soccer team's season so far.

Four games have passed and the team has yet to give up a goal.

A newly re-juvenated offensive unit, however, has been the key to the Tigers' (4-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) success so far and played an important role in Wednesday afternoon's 2-0 victory over Lehigh (3-4) in Bethlehem, Pa.

"Our goal was not to let Lehigh get into the game and I think we did that," senior captain and midfielder Julie Shaner said. "We really dominated the whole time."

Sophomore forward Joan Cundey finished on a breakaway to start the scoring in the 11th minute on a pass from freshman midfielder Katie Krum. It was Krum's first point of her Princeton career and helped put the Tigers up 1-0 going into halftime.

The Tiger attack did not let up after the break as Shaner blasted home a beautiful cross from junior midfielder Linley Gober in the 47th minute to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead that the defense would hold on to.

"Coach has been telling us to cross more often, and one of the few times we were able to do it we scored," Shaner said. "Linley just made a great pass to me and I got past the goalie."

Despite only scoring two goals, the Tiger offense dominated Lehigh, pelting Mountain Hawk netminder Jami Bisetti with 27 shots and forcing her to make 11 saves to keep Lehigh close.

Even with its dominating offense, Princeton was unable to put away as many goals as the Tigers would have liked. Lehigh's defensive scheme kept the majority of its players packed into the defensive end.

"We kept them pinned the whole game," head coach Julie Shackford said. "I think they only moved ahead of the center line once or twice."

On the other side of the field, the Tiger defense continued its streak of 360 minutes without allowing a goal, shutting down its fourth opponent in a row this season. Senior goalie Jordan Rettig had a relaxed afternoon in the net, only having to make one save on four Mountain Hawk shots. Rettig maintained her perfect 0.00 goals-against average.

Even with Rettig's gaudy statistics, the heart of the defense has been junior Kelly Sosa and senior Jenny Lankford, who along with Shaner are the team captains. Playing in the center of the Tiger defense, these two have only allowed nine shots to reach Rettig the entire season and kept Lehigh from mounting any attack Wednesday.

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"The defense has been strong, organized and composed," Shaner said. "They've really been exceptional so far."

Princeton returns to action in its Ivy League home opener Saturday against Dartmouth. The battle between the two league powerhouses will start at 4 p.m. on Lourie-Love Field.