Still smarting from Rutgers loss, w. soccer hopes to rebound at Columbia

Like pigs, all Ivy League games are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

Tomorrow the women's soccer team travels to New York to take on Columbia, and while the Tigers do not wish to overlook the Lions, this should be one of their least taxing league games.

The Lions were 0-6-1 last year in the Ivy League, and, while many of their starters graduated, the players that filled in the ranks have not caused a dramatic turnaround in the team's fortunes.

This season, Columbia is 2-4-2 overall, having lost its sole Ivy contest to Cornell — the lowest-scoring team in the league.

Princeton is coming off its first loss of the season, a 1-0 heartbreaker against Rutgers on Tuesday.

"[The loss] was a wakeup call," senior forward Amee Reyes said. "There's nothing we can do about the past, but we can do something about the future. We're going to play Columbia as hard as we know we're capable of doing."

All season, Princeton (5-1 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) has focused on each opponent individually, and the team is not going to take this win for granted.

The Tigers also have added incentive — they don't want a repeat of last Tuesday's game.

"It will be a mental challenge for us, coming back from Rutgers," senior captain and defender Jenny Lankford said.

Columbia is an important game in the context of the Ivy League. Because this league has no postseason tournament, each game is vital. A loss, even to a "less equal" team, still counts the same as a loss to one of the league's powerhouses.

Right now the league seems to be undergoing a revolution. The perennial leaders — Dartmouth and Harvard — were defeated last week by Princeton and Brown, respectively, leaving the league looking more egalitarian.

The victory by the Bears was especially tumultuous because Harvard owned a nine-game Ivy winning streak, while Brown had an in-league losing streak dating back to 1998.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

With that defeat, the Crimson lost its national ranking, but Brown broke its way into the NCSAA Top 25 in the final spot.

In a different poll, posted at soccerbuzz.com, Princeton grabbed that 25th position.

With different national polls ranking Princeton and Brown in equivalent spots, it is not surprising that the Tigers are looking forward to the Brown game Oct. 13.

The Brown-Princeton matchup will be particularly intriguing since each team has been dominating on the strength of its defense. Each team has only given up one goal, and each team has one of the nation's top-ranked goalkeepers.

"We look a little like the same team, which should make the game a lot of work, but very interesting," Lankford said.

All eyes this weekend will be on Hanover, N.H., where Penn takes on Dartmouth. The Big Green hopes to rebound from its loss to Princeton and the Quakers look to improve on their 1-1 league record.

Ivy games this season have been tight, and this matchup pits two tough goalkeepers against each other. Dartmouth's Kristen Luckenbill has recorded 28 career shutouts, while Quaker Vanessa Scotto has a 0.75 goals-against average this year.

Both teams went to the NCAA tournament last year, so this should be the closest match of the weekend.

With a revolution taking place in the Ivy League, the Tigers know that things will not remain on such equal footing. To remain among the elite, they'll need to remember that every game counts and keep their league record perfect with a win this weekend.