Sherry scores two in women's soccer win over Brown

This one didn't come down to the final minutes, it wasn't a nail-biter, and it wasn't a one-goal game. Finally.

After a nearly month-long streak in which the women's soccer team's games were decided by no more than two goals, the Tigers were able to break away from a sluggish Brown team on Sunday night to gain their third Ivy League victory of the season, 4-1.

The team's record improves to 8-1-1 overall and, more importantly, 3-0 in the Ivy League, good for a first place tie with Harvard, which Princeton squares off against Saturday in Cambridge, Mass.

After 30 minutes of scoreless play, Brown scored the first goal — on its own keeper. The own goal came at 33 minutes, four seconds into the first half when senior fullback Liz Patrick fired a ball from 25 yards out into the box. The ball found the head of Brown's Kelly Smith and snuck past the unsuspecting Bears' keeper.

"We were dominating the game," head coach Julie Shackford said. "We just thought it was a matter of time before we scored."

But Brown was able to even up the score on the correct goal, the Princeton goal, halfway through the second half. Taking advantage of back-to-back corner kicks in the 70th minute, the Bears knotted the game at one on a nifty passing play off the corner. This goal ended Brown's scoreless streak that had lasted nearly 365 minutes, spanning over four-and-a-half games.

Princeton showed who was boss from then on. Just 24 seconds after Brown notched its goal, sophomore forward Theresa Sherry scored. The play began when junior forward Krista Ariss fired a shot at the Brown keeper. The goalie was able to make the diving save on the Ariss shot but mishandled the rebound, giving the ball to Sherry to place in the open net.

"All I had to do was put it in an open net," Sherry said. "So for that one I was in the right place at the right time."

The sophomore, who has scored three goals in the last two games and shares the top spot with freshman forward Kristina Fontanez on the Tiger roster with five goals this season, had to work a little harder for her second goal of the game. Fontanez, taking a pass from Ariss, was able to beat her defender and take the ball wide. The perfectly-positioned Sherry, situated at the near post, redirected Fontanez's cross through the keeper's legs.

Following Sherry's dominating two-goal performance, she was awarded the honor of Ivy League Player of the Week.

Earlier in the week, down 1-0 in the first half to William & Mary, Sherry evened the score for the Tigers when she curved in a corner-kick from the right side, her second goal from the corner this season.

As for the Brown game, Sherry's second goal, which came just five minutes after her first, was all the insurance Princeton would need. Nevertheless, another five minutes later freshman fullback Rochelle Willis was able to beat a Brown goalie caught off-guard from 35 yards out to add the exclamation point.

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Though Brown is one of Princeton's weaker opponents this season, the win is still a big one, placing the Tigers atop the Ivy League with just three more Ivy matches to play on the season.

"Brown is always tough physically," Shackford said. "A win on the road is always positive and puts us in good position. Hopefully we can keep battling."

Despite inconsistent play by Princeton early in the first half, the three-goal run in 10 minutes in second half play shows just how tough this Princeton team can be.

"The thing about this team is that they're battlers," Shackford says. "They're a well-balanced group that finds ways to win."

Indeed, the team must keep battling. Princeton still has Ivy games remaining against nationally-ranked Harvard, which it plays on Saturday. Princeton then plays Penn Nov. 3, also away, and against Yale at home on Nov. 11. The games against Harvard, which is tied atop the Ivy League with Princeton, and against Penn, which stands alone in third, will almost certainly determine this season's Ivy winner.