Women's soccer returns to Lourie Love

In three weeks of road games, women's soccer (3-6-2 overall, 1-2-0 Ivy League) has endured hostile opponents, hostile crowds and hostile weather. The Tigers return to Lourie Love Field tomorrow ready to put their disappointing stretch behind them as they face Columbia (7-4-1, 2-1-0) at 4 p.m.

Princeton hosts a Lion team that is riding a three-game winning streak, including victories over league opponents Brown and Penn. The Tigers are in the opposite situation, having lost two games in a row, with the most recent loss coming in the final seconds of Tuesday's game against cross-state rival Rutgers.

The loss to the Scarlet Knights, the first in four years for Princeton, came when Rutgers knocked in a free kick with less than a minute to play to garner a 2-1 win. It came as yet another unexpected blow to a team that can't seem to catch a break during a season that continues to get worse. Unless the Tigers start winning now, the team that ended last season ranked fourth in the nation will be looking at the prospect of ending the year without a trip to the NCAA tournament.

If Princeton is to revive its season — assuming it has yet to fully enter an irreversible persistent vegetative state — the impetus must come tomorrow. The Tigers can expect strong efforts from their captains and offensive leaders, sophomore midfielder Diana Matheson and senior forward Emily Behncke. The rest of the team, however — especially the defense — must find the consistency and intensity that have eluded them in so many games this season to pull out a win against Columbia.

Directing the Lions' offense is team captain and assist-leader Meghan Hurlbut, who has marshaled the attack to an average of 1.44 goals per game while holding its opponents to 1.28. Its leading scorer is Jana Whiting, who has tallied four goals on the year. Unlike Princeton, however, Columbia has spread around the scoring, with nine players having notched goals already this season.

Recently, the spotlight has been on Liz Dantzler, a freshman who has scored the first two goals of her collegiate career in dramatic fashion, winning each of the past two games for the Lions by scoring the lone goals in 1-0 victories over Sacred Heart and Penn.

In the game against the Quakers last weekend, Dantzler's goal capped a tremendous effort as Columbia held off an aggressive Penn offense that outshot Columbia in driving wind and rain by a ratio of more than 3-1. With only a minute left in regulation, Dantzler managed to slip one by the Quaker keeper for the win. With that kind of momentum behind them, the Lions look like a dangerous team.

The Tigers may be helped by a friendly forecast for the weekend, as their poor performances this year have been highly correlated with bad weather. It all started with their season-opening loss to UCLA during a booming tropical thunderstorm, and the losses have continued under the dark clouds of recent weeks.