W. soccer hosts Ivy nemesis Harvard

Work, work, work.

Whether from parents at home, an English professor or Chuck Norris on those late-night infomercials trying to sell the new and improved Organoflexilizer, many a student at Princeton has probably heard these words at one time or another.

For the players on the women's soccer team these words hold special significance heading into this weekend. Although Fall Break awaits most of the University, the coming week will be far from a vacation for them.

The No. 9 Tigers sit alone on top of the Ivy League at this time, but the title is still very much up for grabs. Five games stand between Princeton (11-1 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) and the Ivy League championship. First on that list is Harvard (6-4-2, 3-1-0) tomorrow.

Harvard currently resides just a game behind Princeton at third in the Ivies. On top of that, the Crimson just loves to mess things up for other teams. Unfortunately for Princeton, Harvard appears to take special pleasure in tripping up the Tigers.

Although Princeton is the only unbeaten team in the league thus far, it is 1-7-1 against Harvard during head coach Julie Shackford's seasons tenure of nine plus seasons and 0-4 at home. The Crimson has beaten Princeton at Lourie-Love Field in the last five meetings there.

But the Tigers look strong this season, leading the league in shots, points, goals, assists and number of shutouts. They have allowed the fewest number of goals but are dead-last in number of saves. This last statistic is actually a positive, though, because it is due to the fact that Princeton's opponents have not had much opportunity to get a shot off. The Tigers' defense has been anchored by senior defenders Romy Trigg-Smith and Elizabeth Pillion, and these two will be counted on to continue providing their expertise as well as their strong feet in the games to come.

For its part, Harvard has the second-fewest goals allowed in the Ivy League, with eight, behind Princeton's four. Despite a lackluster start, the Crimson now boast a four-game winning streak, a streak it still wants to possess after this match. Harvard had its highest-scoring game against Holy Cross on Wednesday and beat Brown in overtime last Saturday. But the Tigers are no pushover.

Senior forward Esmeralda Negron earned Ivy League Player of the Week for her three assists against American and two goals in the 2-0 win over Columbia last week, in which junior goalie Madeleine Jackson earned her fifth shutout of the year, Princeton's eighth. While the Crimson would like to win, the Tigers need a win to stay ahead of Penn in their quest for the Ivy League conference crown.

The Quakers (7-4-2, 3-0-1) were previously tied with Princeton, but a disappointing tie to Dartmouth (5-5-3, 1-2-1) threw a wrench in Penn's title plans.

On Sunday, the Big Green out-shot Penn, 17-7, and had five corner kicks to the Quakers' one. With a minute left in the game and down 1-0, Dartmouth changed its lineup for the second time during the game to put four forwards in play. With nine seconds to go, Allison Green headed the ball in off a cross from teammate Emily Tracy to tie the game, 1-1. Despite two overtimes, neither team could cut loose of the other, and Penn fell to No. 2 in the league. But one loss by Princeton would put the Quakers ahead of the Tigers.

Also on Princeton's itinerary for next week are Syracuse on Wednesday at home, Cornell on Friday in Ithaca, N.Y., and Colgate on Sunday in Hamilton, N.Y.