Women's soccer opens NCAAs against Wisconsin

A rivalry will be renewed when the women's soccer team travels to Wisconsin today to take on the Badgers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It's not the rivalry between Princeton and Wisconsin, however. The two teams have never even met.

Senior captain and defender Jenny Lankford and the Badgers' captain Allison Wagner, the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten with 33 points on the season, will face each other for the first time in the four years since they headed off to college. The game will not be the first contest between the offensive power and the defensive stalwart.

The two will renew the rivalry that developed when both grew up in the Cleveland area and played club soccer on opposing teams for much of their childhood as Lankford lived in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, only 15 miles north of Wagner's hometown of Hudson.

"I've played against her a million times," Lankford said. "I was always back on defense, and she was always a great scorer so we ran into each other a lot."

The contest was a surprise for the two, though, as the Tigers were not expecting to be sent out to face 20th-ranked Wisconsin for their first-round matchup after winning the Ivy League for the first time since 1982. Fellow Ivy teams Harvard and Dartmouth received far more favorable draws despite not finishing the season as strongly as Princeton in the league.

"We were surprised to be sent out of our region," Shackford said. "It is exciting to play a new team, though."

Harvard starts the tournament with a home game against Quinnipiac, one of the weaker teams in the tournament, while the Big Green have a bye until the weekend as one of the top 16 teams in the tournament.

"Teams like Harvard and Dartmouth play tough teams and have proven themselves to the NCAA," Lankford said. "This game is an opportunity for us to prove ourselves."

The Tigers will have to prove themselves against a team that relies on a strong defense much like Princeton does. Wisconsin goalie Kelly Conway has held opponents to an average of only .89 goals per game, while the offense has scored only two goals per contest during the Badgers' 15-6-1 season.

One-woman show

The Badger offense is based almost solely around Wagner, the first Wisconsin player to be named first-team All-Big Ten since 1997. Her 14 goals were nine ahead of any other player for the Badgers. This reliance on one player should play into the hands of the Tigers and their solid defensive corps, anchored by Lankford, junior defender Kelly Sosa, strong-legged sophomore defender Heather Deerin and senior goalie Jordan Rettig. Princeton's defense recorded 13 shutouts this season while only allowing seven goals.

"Their offense is basically Allison [Wagner] with a lot of hardworking players around her," Lankford said.

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The winner of the first-round matchup will travel to Storrs, Conn., to take on 15th-ranked Connecticut next weekend. The Huskies are 15-6-2 on the season.

One of the childhood rivals will play her final collegiate game today. Lankford just hopes that no matter what the records have been throughout the years in her competition with Wagner, she can have the last laugh and the Tigers can move on in the tournament.