The women's soccer team tied Colorado College (8-7-1) 1-1 on Saturday in a well-played battle between two packs of Tigers. But it finished the day with something more — the outright Ivy League championship. Princeton's title came when Penn defeated Dartmouth, 2-1, earlier in the day.
The Big Green's loss gave the Tigers their first outright Ivy League championship in program history. A Dartmouth win over Penn would have made Princeton a co-champion for the third straight year.
Although the tied score of Saturday's game may not show it, the Princeton Tigers played like the champions they are. They dominated the majority of the game, out-shooting Colorado College — a Division I independent — 41-4.
Indeed, Princeton's score would have been a lot higher if it had not been for the remarkable performance of Colorado College's goalkeeper, sophomore Meghann Loseke, who kept her Tigers in the game with 21 saves.
Loseke set her school's record for the most saves in a single season this year. Twenty-one seems to be her lucky number — she saved that many in a shutout of Pepperdine earlier in the season. Prior to Saturday's game, she bumped her 2002 total to 152 with nine saves in her team's win over Northwestern. Loseke earlier surpassed the school record of 139.
Although Princeton was the more aggressive team, winning 50-50 balls in the air, playing oppressive defense, stringing together passes, switching fields frequently, and keeping the ball in enemy territory, Colorado College managed to put the ball in the net first. The score became 1-0 in the 66th minute off a redirected feed from eight yards out.
But the Princeton pack was not going to let another pack of less aggressive Tigers defeat it in its own territory.
Just under three minutes after Colorado College's goal, senior defender Heather Deerin tied the score off of a penalty kick awarded for a handball in the box.
Princeton battled hard for the duration of the game — its final game of the regular season — in an effort to finish off its regular season with a win.
But Deerin's poise in the back, the strength of sophomore defenders Rochelle and Janine Willis, senior defender/midfielder Kelly Sosa's streaks up the middle, the hustle of senior midfielder/forward Joan Cundey, and the ankle-breaking moves of sophomore forward Esmeralda Negron and freshman midfielder Emily Behncke were not enough to break down the wall that was Meghann Loseke.
"Their goalkeeper was extraordinary," head coach Julie Shackford said. "To her credit, we did everything right. It was a great game by her."
And the results of Saturday were a great way to end the regular season.
Princeton finished with the outright Ivy League championship and an overall record of 13-2-1 — "not too shabby," as Shackford said.
Princeton had clinched at least a share of the 2002 Ivy League women's soccer title with a 2-0 win over Cornell last Saturday. That win put the Tigers back on track after they lost back-to-back 1-0 overtime games to Harvard and William and Mary. The team's brief losing streak came after a 12-0-0 start to its season.
With the loss to Harvard — Princeton's only Ivy loss — the Tigers finished their season with a very respectable 6-1-0 League record.
The regular season is indeed over, but Princeton now must gear up for post-season play. Dartmouth's loss to Penn on Saturday did not affect the Ivy League's NCAA tournament bid, which Princeton had already clinched when it beat the Big Green, 4-1, on Sept. 21. The Tigers, who were ranked 15th this season before falling out of the rankings, will face No. 10 Penn State in the opening round of the tournament this Friday at the University of Maryland's Ludwig Field.
"I think we're all looking forward to the post-season," Deerin said. "The games are always so emotional because everybody knows that once you lose your season is over. It's do or die.
"We've won our Ivy title and the next step is to move farther in the NCAA's than we have in the past."
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