A League of Their Own: Win over Penn clinches Ivy title, sending women's soccer to NCAA tournament

As time ticked off the clock late in the women's soccer game against Penn on Saturday night, the offensive mistakes, the sometimes-sloppy play and the missed opportunities of a season were forgotten.

All the Tigers (13-4 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) focused on was the fact that if they could hold on to a 1-0 lead for a little longer, this group would be able to accomplish something no Princeton team had done since 1983 — win an Ivy League Championship.

.As senior midfielder Julie Shaner and senior forward Amee Reyes froze the ball deep in the Quakers' end of the field, the clock ran out with the score 1-0 and the dream of the Class of 2001 finally came true.

The Tigers had finished the season 6-1 in the league to tie with Dartmouth for the championship, but Princeton earned the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament by virtue of a 1-0 win over the Big Green on Sept. 23.

The Tigers will start their postseason effort Wednesday night at Wisconsin.

"This is unbelievable," Reyes said. "We worked so hard for this, and now to have all the work pay off is amazing."

The win over Penn was not the Tigers' most picturesque effort of the season, but it showed the heart and defensive strength that have been the team's trademarks all season.

After a number of early opportunities that the offense failed to convert, Princeton finally got into the scoring column with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half, when sophomore forward Krista Ariss blocked a clearing attempt by the Quakers and feathered the ball inside the penalty box to junior midfielder Linley Gober. Gober then put the Tigers ahead for good, slipping a shot just inside the far goalpost, past the sprawling Penn goalkeeper, Katherine Hunt.

Princeton would continue to pressure Hunt and fellow Penn goalkeeper Vanessa Scotto throughout the game, but would fail to get another shot past either of the quick Quaker netminders. While Penn had a solid defensive effort, senior goalie Jordan Rettig shined in her final regular-season game for Princeton.

"Jordan was amazing for us tonight," head coach Julie Shackford said. "We were a little sloppy in the second half, but she kept us ahead."

The senior tallied five saves, including a diving save on a shot from close range with 18 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game.

It was not an easy path during Fall Break in the Tigers' quest for the title. Coming into its game against Cornell on Oct. 28, Princeton needed not only to win its final two league games to earn the berth into the tournament, but also needed Dartmouth to win its game against Harvard that same day. The Tigers finished their half of the equation with a 2-0 win over the Big Red and then were helped out by Dartmouth, which beat the Crimson 2-0.

Clutch performance

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Princeton again struggled to score against the Big Red — dominating the effort on a cold, blustery day in Ithaca, N.Y. — but the Tigers were unable to score until freshman forward Theresa Sherry headed home a corner kick by sophomore defender Heather Deerin in the 82nd minute. The freshman would add her second goal only three minutes later when she corralled a rebound and fired it into the back of the net.

"The wind threw us off early," senior defender Jenny Lankford said. "We were able to control the ball well and then it felt really good to score off a corner kick for the first time all year."

Though the two league games were the most important part of Fall Break for the Tigers, they took to their home field on Halloween and beat an overmatched Stony Brook team, 5-0.

"It was good to gain some confidence going into the Penn game," Lankford said. "Our offense really exploded for the first time in a while."

Lankford was crucial in Princeton's dominating defense, which has recorded shutouts in every one of the Tigers' 13 wins this year. The senior and fellow captain junior Kelly Sosa kept the ball out of the Princeton zone for much of the game, finding any ball that entered the area and calmly clearing it away.

Now all the mistakes and missed opportunities will have to end and one of the best defenses in the country will have to shine through as the Tigers enter the NCAA tournament.