Women's soccer back on track with dominating win over Columbia

As sophomore defender Heather Deerin stepped up to the ball 74 minutes into the women's soccer team's game Saturday at Columbia, the Tigers were getting frustrated.

After dominating the second half of Tuesday's game against Rutgers without scoring, the Tigers (6-1 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) were being stifled by a Lion team that seemed content to pack its players back in their own defensive half.

"They packed the defensive zone early," senior forward Tanya Kalivas said. "It was just a matter of time before we were going to break through."

Deerin's free kick finally gave Princeton its chance to take the lead en route to a 2-0 win over the Lions (2-5-2, 0-2). The sophomore lofted the ball into the box and freshman forward Theresa Sherry was able to get a head on the ball and drive it into the far corner of the goal to put the Tigers ahead for good.

Drought breaker

It was the Tigers' first score since senior forward Amee Reyes scored the deciding goal in Princeton's 1-0 win over Dartmouth last Saturday.

"With a little patience and some execution we were able to finally get a couple of goals," head coach Julie Shackford said.

The Tigers were able to outplay Columbia all game, outshooting the Lions 22-3, and keeping the pressure off a defense that has been solid all season — allowing only one goal through the first seven games of the season. That defense is also unscored-upon in Ivy action.

With the offense dominating play, and the Lions seeming happy to stay on their half of the field, senior goalie Jordan Rettig was able to notch her fifth shutout of the season with minimal difficulty.

"We keep telling the offense that they shouldn't make the defense play a perfect game," Shackford said. "Today the defense didn't have to."

After Princeton scored the first goal of the day at the 74:26 mark, sophomore forward Krista Ariss put the game out of reach after receiving the ball at midfield, dribbling past five or six Columbia defenders and sliding a pass to Kalivas who beat the Lion's goaltender with a simple shot inside the post.

It was Kalivas' first goal in Ivy League action since she scored in Princeton's 2-0 win over the Lions Oct. 23 of last season.

"Krista made a great individual effort to get past their defense and I just had to touch the ball into the net," Kalivas said. "We made some good plays all the way through the game that finally paid off."

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Though the Tigers were expected to win the battle at Columbia Soccer Stadium, Princeton is now 3-0 in the Ivy League and along with a streaking Brown — which won its only Ivy matchup so far — leads the race for the Ivy title.

League contests are always important to the Tigers who finished third in the league last season after late losses to Penn and Harvard.

"Even though Columbia didn't have a great record coming into the game, it was important that we didn't overlook them," Kalivas said. "It's important to us to be 3-0 in the Ivies at this point."

With a tough game coming up this Tuesday night against regional rival Delaware, the Princeton offense will have to continue to put the ball in the back of the net to break into the polls. The Tigers take on the Blue Hens starting at 7 p.m. at Lourie-Love Field.