Rough start for Princeton

MIAMI — With the graduation of the most talented class of women's soccer players ever at Princeton, no one could be sure how the Tigers would fare this year in trying to repeat last year's 19-3 season. Four games in, it's clear that this Princeton team (1-3 overall) has its work cut out for it in maintaining a national reputation.

After struggling with injuries and player absences and dropping their first three games — the first of which came against No. 3 UCLA (4-0) — the Tigers finally picked up a win Saturday against Loyola Marymount.

The game against UCLA, played in Miami on Sept. 2, was a rematch of the Tigers' season-ending loss to the Bruins last December in the NCAA Final Four. In a storm-shortened game, then-No. 21 Princeton again came up short, losing 1-0 in a game that was ended 18 minutes early due to thunderstorms that had been threatening since halftime.

The loss, though disappointing, was a solid first effort for a team facing heavy losses to graduation. Princeton was also playing without two additional returning starters: sophomore midfielder Diana Matheson, who missed the first two games of the season to play with the Canadian national team, and junior defender Christina Costantino, who suffered a torn ACL days before the start of the season.

Despite missing their critical contributions, the Tigers played to the level that fans of last year's team would have expected. The stellar Princeton back line, led by poised senior goalie Madeline Jackson and senior defender Romy Trigg-Smith — the only returning starter on defense after Costantino's injury — held UCLA scoreless for the half.

"If you look at our defense, it's always a unit," Trigg-Smith said after the game. "[Sophomore defender] Melissa Whitley came up big on some one-on-one defending, and I think we played well together."

At halftime, the teams were forced to go inside and spectators were left to flee helplessly, as wind and rain lashed Cobb Stadium and lightning illuminated the skies above Miami. The storm eventually subsided, and following the extended intermission, play renewed with UCLA beginning to control the game.

With 28:30 on the clock, UCLA's Mary Castelanelli sent a cross-field rocket over the heads of several Princeton defenders and just out of the reach of a diving Jackson, finding the upper right corner of the Tiger nylon to make the score 1-0.

That would be all the Bruins would need. The lightning — which had never fully stopped — became too much to ignore. When the rain began to pour again with 18 minutes left on the clock, the officials ended the game. Since enough playing time had elapsed, the results will be counted, and the remaining time not made up.

Though any loss is difficult — particularly for a team as accustomed to winning as Princeton — there was certainly a silver lining in the quality of play against such a highly-ranked opponent.

"If we can compete with UCLA," Trigg-Smith said, "then you know we can compete with anyone in the nation, and I think we showed that here."

Upset special

Those words would be put to the test two days later when the Tigers took on the Miami Hurricanes in a game in which heavily-favored Princeton handed a 3-0 defeat by a young and aggressive team playing on its home field.

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The two teams battled evenly for the first half, but after the break Miami slowly began to gain the upper hand, and with Sebastian the Ibis rallying the home crowd in the stands, stellar play from some of the Hurricanes' young midfielders began to open up scoring opportunities though holes in the tired Princeton line.

The first goal of the game — and, as it turned out, the only one Miami would really need — was initiated by a fast-break pass from Akilah Moore to Rachael Rigamat in the 64th minute. Rigamat, a freshman who had dazzled the crowd with her ball control all day, wove around the final Tiger defender in her path and with one swift kick seemed to break down the door to the Princeton defense as she sent the ball flying past sophomore goaltender Maren Dale to make the score 1-0.

After the black-clad Tigers failed to make anything of their possession after the goal, another fast break gave Paulette Ricks-Chambers an open look to score the second goal of the game just over a minute after the first one. Princeton seemed unable to respond, with their offense failing to exhibit any sign of control over the ball.

Ten minutes after Ricks-Chambers' goal, Rigamat would lengthen the lead for the last time, showing her ball-handling skills once as she dribbled from midfield through two Tiger defenders to put herself in position to find the nylon behind Dale.

"I think it's more fatigue than anything else," head coach Julie Shackford said. "Not to use it as a crutch, but obviously the rest of Division-I is in their third and fourth games this weekend, and I thought on Friday we stayed pretty sharp, but I'd say there was a lot of mental and physical fatigue today. But it's so early, it's hard to really say how much of the game, and our performance, was a result of fatigue versus tactics."

Back home

On Thursday, Sept. 8, Princeton hosted Arizona, hoping that a return to Old Nassau's leafy campus, as well as the return of All-American Matheson, would get the team off the side for its first win of the year. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that was not to be, as the Wildcats sent them into an even deeper spiral, handing them a 2-1 defeat.

Arizona took the early lead late in the first half with a fast-break goal by Nikki David that got past senior goaltender Emily Vogelzang, the third starter at goalie in as many games for Princeton. Senior forward Emily Behncke evened the game at one when she took an assist from Matheson three minutes into the second half to score the Tigers' first goal of the season.

Fast-paced back-and-forth action characterized the game, with each team taking 16 total shots. The Wildcats scored the clinching goal with 15 minutes left, when another shot from David was deflected by Vogelzang, then knocked in the net by London King. Princeton was incapable of a response, though, and when time expired, the Tigers faced the reality of an 0-3 record.

With that on its minds, the team suited up again Saturday to face Loyola Marymount, another winless team. The first half was scoreless, as the two teams battled with desperation, each badly wanting that first win. Behncke stepped up again for the Tigers early in the second half, scoring off an assist by Lisa Chinn from the left side of the box. Michelle Kanama was able to score for the Greyhounds 12 minutes later.

Neither team scored again in regulation, sending the game to a sudden-death extra session — the sixth-consecutive overtime for Loyola Marymount. This one wouldn't last long, though, as just 2:20 in Matheson buried a shot in the top left corner off a pass from Behncke. Finally, Princeton had grabbed a win — and taken the first step toward another NCAA run.

"It was good to get a win," Matheson said. "It feels very good. It's a very young team, a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and we're still feeling our way."