Princeton nabs first Ivy win

It would have been easy for women's soccer to give up and take a loss Sunday afternoon. Traveling to Hanover, N.H., to play Dartmouth, Princeton faced a team that was riding a four-game winning streak, had home field advantage and, by the end of the first half, had taken nearly twice as many shots as the Tigers.

This was the kind of game Princeton (3-4-2 overall, 1-1-0 Ivy League) has been losing all season. This weekend, however, thanks in part to a strong effort from a pair of sophomores, All-American midfielder Diana Matheson and goaltender Maren Dale, the Tigers held out for a 2-0 victory over the Big Green (6-3-0, 1-1-0).

The eventual game-winning goal came relatively early, when Matheson converted on a free-kick opportunity in the 21st minute for her fourth goal of the season. The goal made it over a wall of Dartmouth defenders and off the hands of goalie Amanda Webb, who came into the game having played two consecutive shutout games for the Big Green.

Dartmouth still dominated possession and kept the pressure on the Tigers with its fearsome offensive squad. The first half saw Dartmouth take five corner kicks to Princeton's one and 10 shots to the Orange and Black's six, yet Dale and the rest of the defense was there every time to hold the line, holding the Big Green scoreless.

The closest call may have come from the leader of the Dartmouth offense, Sarah Johnson. Late in the first half, Johnson came toward the right side of the goal, following her own corner kick, and launched a hard shot that forced Dale to make a brilliant diving stop. Johnson was put off by the defensive tenacity displayed by the Tigers all game — after the game she told 'The Dartmouth,' the school's student newspaper, that she "felt off."

Though assistant coach Ron Celestin called the Big Green's shots on goal "not all that great," he did emphasize the role of Princeton's strong back line. "I would say that defense was the key to our success," he said.

By the second half, the Tigers wrestled back, showing an endurance and consistency that was sorely lacking in many of their games earlier in the season. Minutes after just missing a score on a play similar to Johnson's close call, Matheson sent a long ball past several Big Green defenders right into the path of senior forward Emily Behncke, Princeton's leading goal scorer, on the right side of the field.

Behncke found herself with only Webb between her and the tender nylon at the back of the net. She had no trouble sending the ball up over the keeper and into the goal to put Princeton up 2-0 in the 60th minute of play.

The Tigers held onto the two-goal lead for their first league win.

"[Dartmouth] is known to be a very physical team, and I think we matched them in that on Sunday," Celestin said.

Matheson's fourth goal of the season makes her second on the team in goals scored. As a result of her play in both this game and last Tuesday's win over La Salle, in which she also scored the winning goal, Matheson was named the Ivy League Co-Player of the Week, along with Penn's Carolyn Cross. The award was the first of its kind given to a Tiger this season.

Dale ended the game with four saves, in contrast to Webb's two. Her performance today speaks well for the sophomore, who has been trading off playing time all season with the more experienced goalies on the team, seniors Emily Vogelzang and Madeline Jackson, who split most of the time in goal last season.

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The win leveled Princeton's Ivy record to 1-1, serving notice to the two remaining Ivy teams with undefeated records that Princeton is still a threat to repeat as league champion. Those undefeated teams are Yale and Penn, who last played Harvard and Cornell, respectively. Next weekend, when Princeton travels to Brown in the second leg of three weeks of road games, Yale hosts Dartmouth, while Penn plays Columbia.