Not in Ivy's anymore: W. soccer takes on Penn St. at NCAAs

Strap it on Toto. This isn't Kansas anymore.

For the first time all year, the women's soccer team will enter a game as the pronounced underdog. The squad takes on No. 12 Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this afternoon at the University of Maryland.

The Nittany Lions (15-3-1) were the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament, but lost in the first round to No. 8 Illinois. They were invited to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.

The Tigers (13-2-1) earned their tournament bid by taking the Ivy League regular season title, as the Ancient Eight does not play a conference tournament. After being ranked as high as 15th in the country during the season, Princeton stumbled to the finish line, going 1-2-1 in its final four games.

Though the team has continued to play sound possession soccer and, for the most part, has controlled the flow of play, the offense has been struggling to convert on its opportunities.

In their last regular season game against Colorado College, the Tigers failed to find the back of the net during live play, despite taking 41 shots. Princeton's lone goal came on a penalty kick by senior captain and defender Heather Deerin following a handball in the box.

The defense, despite giving up very few shots per game, has yielded several dangerous opportunities that have led to opponents' goals. Against Colorado College, a key defensive breakdown led to a quick counterattack and goal. The breakdown killed the Tigers' momentum as well, as Princeton had been dominating the game up to that point.

"I actually think we're playing the best soccer of our season," Deerin said. "But we're not getting any of the lucky bounces that we were getting earlier in the year. We just have to hope that some of the breaks will start to go our way again."

Princeton will need all the breaks it can get against the Nittany Lions. Penn State — making its eighth straight Tournament appearance — boasts one of the nation's top players in senior forward Christie Welsh. Welsh is once again a finalist for the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy for player of the year, which she won last year as a junior. Currently, she leads her team with 11 goals and 12 assists.

"She is definitely an amazing player," Deerin said. "But she's also just one of 11 out there. If you can limit everyone else on the field, she becomes less effective. I also think we have the defenders who can match up with her physically."

Though Princeton and Penn State did not face each other this year, they had several common opponents. Princeton defeated Boston College, 1-0, while the Lions barely salvaged a 2-2 tie against the Eagles. Against Harvard, PSU won 2-1 while the Crimson downed the Tigers 1-0 in overtime. Both teams shut out Rutgers.

"I think we're feeling pretty confident because we've played well against good teams," Deerin said. "We've also played to similar scores against the same teams. Now we're the underdogs and we're enjoying that. We have nothing to lose. On paper we're not as good as they are. But we're young, and we don't have any fear."

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To guard against the mistakes that have been plaguing the team over the last several weeks, the coaching staff has been focusing mainly on decision-making and finishing in practice this week. Over a four-game span late in the season, the Tigers went scoreless for 240 minutes. Freshman Forward Maura Gallagher then scored two goals in the next two minutes in Princeton's 2-0 win over Cornell.

If the Tigers can get out of the first round, the team will meet the winner of the matchup between No. 17 Maryland and American that will take place on Sunday.

If the Tigers can pull out two victories this weekend, they would head into the Round of 16 and give the Tigers 15 wins in a season for the first time in the program's history.