No. 11 w. soccer shuts out Columbia

Heading into Saturday's game against Columbia, women's soccer head coach Julie Shackford was prepared for a typically intense conference match-up.

"They're going to be organized defensively and tough to beat at their place," she said. "I think if we're playing our game we'll do alright."

Modesty is clearly one of Shackford's strong suits, as No. 11 Princeton (11-1 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) did far better than 'alright' to extend its winning streak to seven games in a suffocating 2-0 performance at Columbia (5-6, 0-4) on Saturday that extended the Tigers' reign of terror in the Big Apple.

The win will make the Lions' Class of 2005 the third in a row to graduate without ever seeing a goal scored against Princeton, as the Tigers have shut out the Lions in every matchup between the two teams since 1998.

Despite controlling the ball from the beginning, it took the Orange and Black almost 40 minutes to score, when with 11 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the first half, senior forward Esmeralda Negron put Princeton on the board.

Negron, scoring her first of two goals on the day, was setup on a long pass from freshman midfielder Diana Matheson, who earned the assist. The goal allowed the Tigers to again head into halftime with the lead by dominating play on defense, allowing only one shot all half.

"After the game [Shackford] said she could have written a script for the past 10 years of playing Columbia," junior midfielder Maija Garnaas said. "We just had to change our game around and play a little more direct."

The second half saw a new goaltender for the Lions but more of the same on the field. By the end of the game, Princeton had outshot Columbia 23-4, as the Lions forced junior goalie Madeline Jackson to make just one save, while the Tigers again dominated possession.

After 30 minutes of close calls, Princeton got its second goal from Negron with just under 15 minutes remaining in the game, coming on an assist from senior midfielder Janine Willis.

That score would be all the Tigers would need, as they recorded another shutout victory which keeps them atop the Ivy League standings.

Negron's two goals were her eighth and ninth of the season, and the 35th and 36th of her career. The goals put her within five of Linda DeBoer's 20 year-old career scoring record of 41, which Negron has been chasing all season. In addition to that record, her three assists last Tuesday against American put her one away from the single season assist record of nine, and she needs just five points to take the single seaon points record.

The play of Princeton's midfield and defense was business as usual for the Tigers, as eight of the team's eleven victories this year have come on shutouts. Jackson, who was credited with her fifth shutout of the year, lowered her goals scored against average (GAA) to an unbelievable 0.16, the best in the country.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The loss was the fourth straight for Columbia, which sits in the cellar of the Ivy League.

Princeton was handed a break Sunday as Alison Green of Dartmouth (5-5-3, 1-2-1) scored a header goal with three seconds left in regulation in the Big Green's game against Penn (6-4-2, 3-0-1). Penn had been tied in first place with the Tigers by winning all its league games. But Green's goal gave Dartmouth a 1-1 tie, which hands Princeton sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

Princeton returns home next Saturday to host Harvard.

"Harvard is always a big game, and we usually get really hyped up, but we're just going to approach it like any other game," Garnaas said.