The U.S. Postal Service prides itself that "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" can stop its couriers from delivering mail.
Like the most dogged postman, women's soccer was undeterred by the weather in Ithaca, N.Y. Saturday, defeating Cornell, 2-0, in steady snowfall to clinch both an automatic NCAA tournament bid and at least a share of the Ivy title.
But the team's hopes of an undefeated regular season were dashed earlier in the week. The Tigers fell, 1-0, in overtime to both Harvard on Oct. 26, in their first loss of the season, and to William & Mary on Oct. 30, in a frigid, rain-soaked battle.
The Tigers, who went into the break 12-0-0 as the only Div. I women's soccer team that remained unbeaten and untied, now boast a 13-2-0 record (6-1-0 Ivy League) — not perfect anymore, but still the best in the Ivy League.
The Tigers needed to beat either Harvard or Cornell to clinch at least a share of the title, so after losing to the Crimson, the win over the Big Red was crucial.
Because Princeton did lose to Harvard, however, the Tigers did not secure the outright title, which was one of their objectives for the season. They can still attain this goal, but whether or not they do is out of their control now, and in the hands of Dartmouth.
If the Big Green (12-3-1 overall, 5-1-0 Ivy), who beat Harvard (7-6-1, 3-2-1) yesterday 1-0, lose or tie their final league matchup against Penn (6-6-3, 2-1-3) next Saturday, then the Tigers will receive their first outright Ivy title in program history. But if Dartmouth beats Penn, Princeton will have to share the title with the Big Green for the third straight year.
Regardless, though, since Princeton beat Dartmouth, 4-1, in regular season competition, the Tigers will receive the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid even if they must share the title with the Big Green.
Freshman midfielder Maura Gallagher was the star against Cornell (8-5-2, 2-5-0), scoring both of the game's goals in a two-minute span of the final four minutes of the first half. Her first goal, assisted by sophomore defender Janine Willis with three minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the half, ended the team's 240 minute cumulative scoring drought. Her second goal came off a corner kick just over two minutes later, with 1:51 remaining.
"We hadn't scored in a while," Gallagher said. "We weren't getting frustrated. We just thought we should have some other people try to step up and make something happen. It's great to win the championship. It's part of why you come to Princeton in the first place."
In Wednesday's loss to William & Mary (13-5-1, 8-1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) — head coach Julie Shackford's alma mater — as well as the previous Saturday's loss to Harvard, Princeton kept the game scoreless throughout regulation time, only to fall in overtime.
William & Mary's Taline Tahmassian scored four minutes into the first overtime period on a long drive. Princeton outshot William & Mary, 9-3.
Harvard handed Princeton its first loss and delayed the Tigers' acquisition of the Ivy title when the Crimson's Sara Sedgwick headed in Katie Westfall's corner kick 4:42 into the second overtime. Princeton's junior goalie Jean Poster had no chance of stopping the shot, which sailed into the left corner. Poster did have nine saves in the game, the first in which the Tigers were outshot by their opponents (20-14).
Despite the loss, "it was a really good game," Shackford said. "I thought we had better chances in the first half and they had better chances in the second half. Once you get to overtime, anything can happen. It was a very even game. We knew we'd have to lose sometime."
The Crimson were undoubtedly motivated by the knowledge that a victory against Princeton was the only way of keeping their own Ivy title hopes alive — although with Princeton's win over Cornell, Harvard is now out of the running.
After the Harvard loss, the Tigers fell to No. 19 in the most recent national coaches' poll from a season and program high of No. 15. Dartmouth, the only other ranked Ivy team, is at No. 23.
Princeton is also ranked in the Top 25 by Soccerbuzz.com - currently No. 15 after falling from a season high of No. 9.
The Tigers conclude their regular season Saturday with a home match against Colorado College (7-7-1).
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