UCLA's speed, athleticism too much for Tigers

CARY, N.C. — The women's soccer program did not just take a step in the right direction this year. It took the kind of leap forward that Neil Armstrong took in 1969. Head coach Julie Shackford's team thoroughly dismantled nearly every Princeton and Ivy League record in women's soccer.

But if Friday afternoon's 2-0 loss to UCLA in the national semifinals showed anything, it was how much farther the program will have to climb to perennially compete with the nation's elite.

For the first time all year, Princeton was outplayed. The Bruins were quicker to the ball throughout the game, forcing Princeton out of its rhythm on offense and relentlessly pressuring the Tiger defense. It took a phenomenal performance from junior goalie Madeleine Jackson to hold UCLA to the two goals.

"UCLA was the better team today," Shackford said. "They took care of our special players. They double-teamed when appropriate. We didn't do a good job of getting in behind them, which has been our bread and butter all year."

"Their defenders did a good job marking up against [senior forward] Es[meralda Negron] and [junior forward Emily] Behncke," freshman midfielder Diana Matheson added. "They were athletic and quick."

The Bruins had to be both of those if they were to contain the best offense in Ivy League history. Going into Friday's matchup, Princeton had outscored its opponents, 58-9, and outshot them, 424-131. The Tigers used crisp, delicate interior passing to create dangerous situations in front of the opposition's goal.

Hitting the wall

On Friday, UCLA put a stop to that. Though the game was scoreless at halftime, the Bruins dominated play in the first 45 minutes, shutting down the vaunted Tiger offense by keeping the ball in Princeton's half of the field almost exclusively. For the first time all season, Princeton failed to get a shot off for an entire half.

Meanwhile, UCLA put incredible pressure on the Tigers' senior-laden defense. The Bruins' best chance came on a shot from just outside the 18 that looked like it would find a home in the corner of the goal. But Jackson sprung to her right, made a leaping save and hung onto the ball without surrendering a rebound. The grab sent the small, but spirited Princeton student section into a frenzy.

Play in the second half was much more even, but Princeton still could not possess the ball for any significant stretch of play. This was the first game all year in which the Tigers faced a team that could match up well with both speed and skill at every position. There seemed to be no chink in the Bruin armor. For much of the game, Princeton was forced to play a modified version of kick-and-run, playing long balls over the top and hoping that the forwards could gain control and start the attack from there.

Although UCLA outshot Princeton by a slim 4-3 margin in the second half, its four chances were far more dangerous than the Tigers' three. None of Princeton's shots were on goal, which marked the first time all season that the Tigers failed to put a shot on net in an entire game. Princeton was also outshot for the first time, 9-3. None of the Tigers' five leading scorers recorded a shot.

Positive perspective

After the game, however, spirits seemed relatively high, with the focus more on what the team accomplished rather than the disappointing loss.

"The season was amazing," senior defender Elizabeth Pillion said. "We had a great time together as a team. We played some brilliant soccer, and although that obviously didn't happen today, we are still going to remember the good times."

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Pillion is one of nine players listed on the roster from the Class of 2005. Shackford will lose both her strongest and deepest class this spring, and she attributes the team's success to the play and leadership of those seniors.

"The seniors got us here," Shackford said. "It was their work and the atmosphere that they created that allowed us to get to this point."

The seniors leave as the most successful class in program history. They raised the bar of expectations for future years, and the team's success this season should help Shackford continue to attract top-level talent to the program.