Women's club soccer looks to league title, bid to nationals

This year, women's club soccer will enter new territory, — namely, Tuscaloosa, Ala. — where Princeton intends to compete at the eighth annual National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association Tournament. Ranked second in the Northeastern Division, with a record of 8-1, it is more than just the average club team.

The team has undergone some major changes this year. The Tigers started the season knowing that they wanted to go to Nationals and thus had to cut about 30 of the 55 athletes who tried out. Now, with a roster of 25 players and, for the first time during the fall, a coach, the Tigers are well-equipped for this weekend at the regional qualifiers to get a bid to The Big Dance.

Until this fall, the team played in the Hamilton Women's Recreational League and in only a few intercollegiate games, but now, all of that has changed. The Princeton team has already hosted an eight-team tournament and will have played about 15 games by the time Nationals roll around.

"Most people think we just play Rutgers, Rider and other local schools, but we played at Yale and we're planning on going to Alabama," junior Diana Clarkson said.

For Nationals, there are two brackets. One is an invite-only tournament and the other is an open division for any team who wants to come and play. Both divisions allow for 16 teams to compete.

The two rivals in the Northeast region are top-ranked Delaware and Penn State, which is tied with Princeton for second place. The top two teams from this region will then go on to receive a bid to Nationals. Princeton has placed third the past two years, just barely missing the mark. This year, it is quite possible that the team will not be singing the same old song anymore.

"My freshman year, the team was not very good at keeping players. I think we're getting better all-around," said senior co-captain Becca Jones. "We definitely have the most talented group of freshmen this year and I know we have the ability to beat Delaware."

If this season's record is any indication of its ability to compete, the regional tournament this weekend should have the Tigers on their way to Tuscaloosa come Nov. 14. The team's only loss was to Villanova, 2-1, in sudden-death overtime — and Princeton had already beaten Villanova earlier in the season.

Overall, it appears that the team has become much more serious. "I think [club] sports like Rugby, where there's no varsity team, have an easier time as far as publicity is concerned. But we have a really good varsity team so it's hard getting people to come out all the way to West Windsor," Clarkson said.

The team, despite the intense fall season, plays year-round. In the winter and spring, it will become an open team so that more players can play.

For most, club soccer was an opportunity to continue playing a sport that they loved. Both Clarkson and Jones began their freshman year rowing crew but found it too time-consuming and decided to play soccer.

Hopefully, with its maiden trip to Nationals, the team should have no problem in establishing itself as serious players.

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The team practices twice a week with at least one game or tournament each weekend. Unlike past years, the Tigers have a coach, Justin Gung, a Princeton Seminary student. He began running the practices and games last spring, taking some of the pressure off of the captains.

Overall, the Northeastern region is made up of smaller schools when compared with other regions in the U.S. But in the past year, three new women's club teams have been founded at Lehigh, Delaware State, and The College of New Jersey.