Shaner sparks w. soccer to victory with goal, assist

Julie Shaner dribbled up the field through five defenders and lofted a shot towards the goal. The senior midfielder's shot popped up and over the tips of the Delaware goalkeeper's fingers, dropping down behind her into the net.

With that, the women's soccer team took the lead for good last night at Lourie-Love Field against its Mid-Atlan-tic region rival. Princeton (7-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) handily won, 3-0, under the leadership of Shaner.

The Blue Hens (8-3-1) soon learned to fear the sight of Shaner streaking up the field. The midfielder dominated Delaware's defense, with one goal, one assist and multiple breakaway shots.

Shaner was one of the few faces in familiar positions at the beginning of the game. With junior defender and captain Kelly Sosa out for the night, the lineup was drastically different when the game started.

Then, less than five minutes into the game, senior goalkeeper Jordan Rettig dove into the cleats of an oncoming Delaware forward to make a save. Those cleats landed on her face, and she lay there for several minutes as the trainer looked her over. Rettig was helped off the field and sophomore backup goalie Catherine Glenn came in for the Tigers.

No worries

"We were not worried in the slightest about [the job Glenn would do]," head coach Julie Shackford said. "That is a smooth change — we have three of the best keepers in the region."

However, with Rettig out, the Tiger defense, which has been so solid all season, was completely changed around. A few minutes later freshman defender Katie Krum went down as well. By this point, only one player was in her normal position.

All season, Princeton has relied on its defenders, but last night when the defense could have been chaotic, the offense took control.

Seven minutes after Rettig went out, Shaner struck with Princeton's first goal at the 33 minutes, 39 second mark.

"The first five minutes were a little chaotic," Shaner said. "It upsets us when someone takes one of our players out. I think we dominated after Jordan [Rettig] went down."

In the 16th minute, Shaner hit freshman forward Theresa Sherry in front of the goal. Sherry — the team's leading scorer — found the left corner of the net as the goalie's dive was too short.

The Tigers' two goals were enough to put them ahead of the Blue Hens, but in the second half, they took the game out of reach.

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In the 36th minute of the half, sophomore midfielder Jenny Skinner nailed a shot over the Blue Hen netminder to put the game away.

With a lineup that was dramatically changed from the beginning of the game, Princeton then took advantage of its depth. Twenty players saw action last night, allowing the Tigers to wear down Delaware physically.

"We had to finagle the lineup, but we battled hard, and I would say our bench won us this game," Shackford said.

Coming off that bench, Glenn had a strong performance in goal. She had six saves, many times diving or leaping to stop the ball.

Although the Blue Hens were able to pull together a stronger attack in the final 15 minutes, it was too little, too late, as Princeton recorded its seventh shutout.