W. soccer claws Lions on strength of Negron's goals

Two words spelled doom for Columbia women's soccer Friday night: Esmeralda Negron.

Princeton's junior forward had a hand — or foot, rather — in all three of the Tigers' goals. After assisting junior midfielder Kristina Fontanez's early goal, Negron netted two of her own in the second half as Princeton beat Columbia, 3-0.

The Lions (4-7-2 overall, 0-3-1 Ivy League) came in knowing they had a long night ahead of them — and not only because they would have to shut down Negron, the league's leading scorer with 11 goals on the season. They also had to face Princeton, one of the top Ivy League teams, on the Tigers' home turf.

Going into the weekend's contest, Princeton (9-1-2, 3-1-0) possessed an intimidating ranking — No. 20 in the NCAA, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Also, no current Tiger has ever seen Columbia score on her team. The Lions have not found the net against Princeton since 1998.

The teams played through a cold rain, which caused difficulties on both sides. Some Princeton players felt that they were not able to dominate their opponents as much as they should have because of the poor weather.

"I thought we didn't maintain possession and didn't have complete control of the game as well as we should have," Negron said, "but it may have been due to the wet surface."

The Tigers didn't use the weather as an excuse, however. Each Princeton player knows how crucial every Ivy contest is from here on if the team wants a shot at the league title.

The Tigers were able to control the game enough for a 1-0 lead at halftime.

But the Tigers were not satisfied with just a one-goal cushion. They came out strong in the second half, controlling the ball consistently and giving themselves better looks at the goal.

Better looks at the goal, however, don't necessarily mean points on the scoreboard. And that's where Negron comes in — again.

Negron made good on a well-timed pass from freshman midfielder Meghan Farrell, who scored the game-winner against Brown last Saturday.

"The second goal came from a cross into the middle where Meghan Farrell sent a nice ball through and I shot to the right corner," Negron said.

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And just in case there was any doubt about Negron's taking the title of the Ivy League Player of the Week, she launched another ball into the net for good measure.

She took the ball down the sideline, made a nice cut to the goal and placed the ball just inside the near post for the finale of her Friday night performance.

With this weekend's stats, Negron continues to claw her way to the top of the record books. She needs just three more goals to top the Princeton record of 13 goals in a single season. With 24 total career goals only midway through her junior season, she has this season and the next to move up from fourth all-time on that list.

Negron did not win the game singlehandedly, of course. The Lions' offense got uncomfortably close to Princeton's goal on several occasions before the Tiger defense shut them down.

"Columbia had some scoring opportunities," Negron said, "but we were able to handle the pressure well, and [sophomore goalie] Emily Vogelzang had a solid performance in goal."

In the end, the Lions never got close enough to do any major damage. Vogelzang added her second shutout to an already strong season, where she has split time in goal with sophomore Madeline Jackson.

So with solid performances on both offensive and defensive sides of the field, the Tigers defeated one of the league's weaker teams.

Next Saturday's contest against Harvard, however, won't be so easy. This game is the biggest obstacle Princeton will have to overcome in order to achieve its goal of an Ivy title.

But with Negron on the Tigers' side, who can lose sleep with worry over that challenge?