Women's soccer dogged by Harvard for eighth-straight year

Five minutes into the women's soccer game Friday night, everyone at Lourie-Love Field was thinking the same thing: Who let the dogs out?

A yellow lab broke free from his owner and discovered 20 women playing a game of keep-away with a big black-and-white ball, and immediately thought he could join in. The fans, there to see a pivotal Ivy League game between Princeton (10-4 overall, 4-2 Ivy League) and Harvard (10-2, 4-1), instead were treated to a rousing refrain of the popular song by the Baha Men.

The referee seemed oblivious as the dog ran around the field, jumping on players and chasing after the ball. Finally, senior goalie Jordan Rettig decided to take things into her own hands — literally.

Harvard sent off a shot at the goal which Rettig easily fielded. However, instead of kicking the ball back into play, Rettig waited until the owner of the dog was able get his pet off the field.

After that distraction, the fans were ready for more excitement on the field as the Tigers — undefeated in league play — met Harvard, which has won four out of the last five Ivy titles.

But the Tigers continued to look distracted — although the dog was safely back on his leash — and fell to the Crimson, 2-0, allowing their first goals of the season in Ivy play.

Later that weekend, Princeton took on Loyola in Baltimore, Md., Sunday, and were shut out again, losing 1-0 to the Greyhounds despite dominating play.

In the first half of the Harvard game, the Tigers looked out of sync and seemed to have the jitters.

"We couldn't put stuff together," sophomore forward Krista Ariss said. "We were running around a lot, but we couldn't finish."

Harvard's attack was strong, and much of the first half was played at Princeton's end of the field. With 11 minutes, 37 second in the half, the Princeton defense suddenly seemed thin, and Crimson forward Joey Yenne took advantage, sending a shot into the left corner of the net, and the Tigers were down, 1-0.

In the second half, the Tigers were more organized and less tentative, but still had trouble finishing. The Crimson goalie had a few incredible saves, including one on a rocket from freshman forward Teresa Sherry which she punched over the crossbar.

Harvard was as effective on the other end of the field as well. On a Crimson free kick just outside Princeton's box, the ball bounced over two groups of defenders, and Harvard midfielder Katie Westfall was able to get in line to score the Crimson's second goal.

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"We didn't put our best out on the field in the first half," senior defender and captain Jenny Lankford said. "In the second half, we were just unlucky."

Not having beaten Harvard since 1992, Princeton may have come into Friday's game uncertain whether it could stay unbeaten in the Ivy League.

"We were playing not to lose rather than playing to win, and that really hurt us," senior midfielder and captain Julie Shaner said.

Princeton and Harvard are now tied atop the Ivy League.

Sunday at Loyola (13-4), a tired Tiger team outshot the Greyhounds 21-4, but were unable to get a shot past goalie Julie Kapcala.

Loyola, however, made good use of one of its four shots as Sarah Rabb intercepted a pass deep in Princeton territory and chipped the ball past senior Jordan Rettig in the 77th minute to give the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead that they would keep.

This was the first time this year the Tigers suffered back-to-back losses — a streak they will try to stop when they face Cornell Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y.

(Senior writer Clark Thiemann contributed to this report.)