Reeling Tigers face La Salle tonight at home

Playing its last home game until mid-October, women's soccer (1-4-2 overall, 0-1-0 Ivy League) takes a breather from Ivy League play tonight, hosting La Salle University (3-5-1 overall), at 7 p.m. at Lourie-Love Field.

The Tigers are coming off a disappointing 2-1 loss to No. 24 Yale (7-2-0, 1-0-0) as they stumbled in the start of their 2005 Ivy League schedule. The game tonight against the Explorers gives them one last chance to tune up before facing the rest of the Ancient Eight in the following weeks.

Princeton is still trying to find its stride and make the pieces click this year, as the losses have piled up since the team started the season ranked No. 21 in the nation. The Tigers' sole victory came two weeks ago against Loyola Marymount, and with the loss to Yale, doubts are already being voiced as to their ability to repeat as Ivy League champions.

The Princeton offense has been a two-woman show so far this year, with every goal on the season scored by either senior forward Emily Behncke or sophomore midfielder Diana Matheson. That is not to say that they are the only players looking to score — the Tigers have outshot their opponents, 93-90, on the year, and Matheson and Behncke account for less than half of Princeton's attempts. If the Orange and Black are to turn their season around, other players will have to find a way to get the ball into the net.

Another Princeton player thought for a moment she had joined Behncke's and Matheson's company in the game against Yale, when Matheson found freshman forward Aarti Jain open off of a free kick, but Jain's goal was negated because of a ruling that she was offside on the play. This type of frustrating outcome has been common throughout the Tigers' games this year, as they have faced both bad luck and inconsistent play on their side of the field.

The defense has struggled with the loss of nearly every starter from last year, due to either graduation or injury. Even the goalkeepers, whose experienced unit seemed to be one of the squad's strengths coming into the season, have been hot and cold. This has prompted head coach Julie Shackford to spread playing time generously among sophomore Maren Dale and seniors Madeline Jackson and Emily Vogelzang.

La Salle, which was 10-7-2 a year ago, comes to Princeton fielding a young team. Its leading scorer, Kristin Hextall, is a sophomore, and the second leading scorer and two primary goalkeepers are all freshmen.

This youth has hurt the Explorers against some more experienced teams, but it has also propelled them to victory, as in their recent 4-2 defeat of Farleigh Dickinson on Friday. Their last goal of that game, contributed by Hextell, came even after a red card was given to sophomore Shelby Reese, putting them down a player for the last 14 minutes of the game. During that time, not only did they add to their lead, but they also did not surrender a goal.

A week before defeating Farleigh Dickinson, La Salle played a game of special interest to Princeton as the Tigers try to measure themselves for later in the season. The Explorers were thrashed by Penn, 3-0, on Sept. 16.

In that game, the Quakers scored two goals in less than a minute, took double the number of shots that the Explorers did and allowed only two shots on goal all game. Penn is the last team on Princeton's schedule this year, and while it is far away, it will not bode well if the Tigers have any trouble with a home game against a team handled so easily by an Ivy opponent.