Freshman Behncke joins women's soccer team, extends family dynasty

Among her teammates on the women's soccer team, freshman Emily Behncke is known as Martha, as in Martha Stewart — not because she has been accused of insider trading, but because she acts like a mom, always offering cookies to her teammates when they enter her room. Head coach Julie Shackford liked the name, so it stuck.

Granted, the team did not choose the name Martha because they thought it would somehow make Behncke more intimidating to opposing players. The name does, however, connote the very characteristics of her style of play that make her threatening.

Like a mother at the center of a household, Behncke plays central midfielder, whose role on the soccer field is to keep the ball moving by distributing it left and right to the wings as well as to the forwards and fullbacks.

"Emily has been playing as an attacking central midfielder and I definitely think that is the right role for her at the moment," Shackford said. "She has improved with every game...She has the ability to create and score goals and really made an impact in the last two games."

Having started in every game so far this season, already Behncke looks more like a veteran than a freshman on the field. She has scored two goals in four games, first against Lehigh last Wednesday and then on Saturday in the team's 4-1 victory over Dartmouth, who shared the Ivy Title with Princeton — and Penn — last year.

The freshman's immediate success is by no means a mere flash of beginner's luck.

She kicked her first soccer ball when she was four or five years old and has kept with it ever since, deciding that ballet, gymnastics, and tennis were not for her. At Hampton Roads Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia, she played field hockey until her junior year — that is, until her love for and devotion to soccer compelled her to give it up.

"I love the competitiveness of soccer," Behncke said. "I love walking onto the field and knowing that the team we are playing is going to force us to play our best. To control the game, make the right pass, or score the winning goal in that type of situation is an incredible feeling."

It did not hurt her love and talent for soccer that her two older brothers, Griff '00 and Matt '02 — coached by her father, who played soccer at West Point — were exceptional soccer players as well. Both Griff and Matt played soccer at Princeton, and Matt currently plays for the Dallas Burn, a Major League soccer team.

Although the fact that both of Behncke's older brothers were Tigers might seem to indicate that she came to Princeton in their footsteps, she definitely fell in love with the school on her own.

"I always knew I wanted to come here. I loved the campus, the team, and basically everything about the school," she said.

Behncke also visited Stanford and the University of Virginia, but she knew that, in her own words, "Princeton was the perfect fit."

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The transition from high school to college soccer was tougher than she imagined.

"Each practice is so intense," she said. But her team has helped make the transition as gentle as possible for Behncke and the other new freshmen.

"Emily is starting to make the adjustments to the physicality of the collegiate game," Shackford said. "She still needs to work on her play without the ball but I have no doubts she will continue to make big strides, and that she can develop into a premier collegiate midfielder.

"Emily is extremely enthusiastic and positive, and along with the rest of the freshmen, has brought a great attitude to the program."

Behncke has nothing but glowing words for her teammates.

"The girls are all so nice. It's like we're all one big family. It's a great feeling to know that you have twenty-six other girls out there who are looking out for you. It's hard coming in as a freshman to a group that is already so close, but they make you feel like part of the team right away.

"I can't imagine spending the next four years with a better group of girls."

Behncke has set goals for both herself and the team this season.

"I want to assert myself on the field as a dangerous player. Every game I want to go out and make an impact on the field."

She predicts that her team will win the Ivy title outright and get past the second round of the NCAA tournament, while staying in the top 20 throughout the season. The Tigers, with a 4-0 record, are on the right track toward accomplishing just that — and they have Emily's cookies to fuel them.