Road trip to Dartmouth will kick off Ivy season

The women's soccer team, with some tough non-league games under its belt, will soon begin Ivy League play.

To date, the team's non-league games have been tough. The Tigers (2-4-1 overall) began playing in late August in the Boston University Tournament. They lost to No. 16 Connecticut and Boston University 1-0 in both games. This was followed by a scoreless draw versus No. 25 Villanova at home.

Last week, Princeton visited South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Tournament. While the Tigers scored the first goal against the defending national runners-up, No. 9 Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish ended up winning the game, 4-2. In their next game in the tournament, the Orange and Black fell to Washington State, 1-2. The team's first win came against St. Joe's, where the Tigers played well but revealed that they needed some work in finishing around the goal.

The Tigers played without their star senior midfielder and co-captain Diana Matheson, who was busy playing for the Canadian national team in Hangzhou, China, at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Matheson helped the team to a 4-0 defeat of Ghana. Her return to the Tigers' starting lineup following Team Canada's recent elimination should prove invaluable for Ivy League play in the next couple of months.

Though the team did not start the season well, it will now have a fresh slate as Ivy League play begins. The team had some reasonably good showings against highly ranked opponents so far this season, which should bolster the players' confidence as they begin playing Ivy League teams.

"We put ourselves in the thick of it right away playing four top-20 teams," head coach Julie Shackford said. "I think everything we do at the beginning of the season is geared towards putting ourselves in the best position to win the league. The early season presents a delicate balance because you don't want your team to lose confidence, but at the same time, you don't want to give them a false idea of where they are, either."

The first Ivy League game will take place on Sept. 29 in Hanover, N.H., versus Dartmouth. The Tigers fell to the Big Green last season, 1-0.

The battle of New Jersey will follow at home versus Rutgers. Princeton lost to the Scarlet Knights last season, 0-2.

The Tigers play Brown in Providence, R.I., on Oct. 6, and will then host Columbia at home a week later. The Bears convincingly beat Princeton last year, 4-0. The Columbia game was slightly closer, but the Tigers lost as well, 2-3. Princeton will try to get some revenge against these two league rivals.

The two non-league games will be against Lehigh and Bucknell. Princeton demolished Lehigh in 2006, 5-0, but did not play Bucknell.

The Tigers will visit Harvard on Oct. 20 and a week later will play Cornell at home. Princeton defeated both teams late last season, beating Harvard 5-0 and Cornell 1-0.

Princeton will end its 2007 campaign with games against Penn in Philadelphia and Yale in Princeton Stadium. The Tigers went 1-1 against these two teams last season, beating Penn 2-0 and falling to Yale 1-2.

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"The Ivy League has been pretty tight the last couple of years," Shackford said. "I really do think that each game is going to be a battle. I'm not sure anyone is going to run away with it this year, and I think that we will definitely be in position to compete for the title."

While the Tigers have retained nine of their starters from last year, they have lost a few important seniors. Forward Meghan Farrell '07, who had three goals and one assist, defender Christina Costantino '07 and midfielder Lauren Thomas '07, who had two goals and three assists, will all be missed on the three lines.

Some of the key players to return include Matheson, with eight goals and five assists in 2006; sophomore forward/midfielder Vicki Anagnostopoulos, with six goals and four assists last season; and senior goalkeeper and co-captain Maren Dale, who boasts a .738 save percentage, a 1.05 goals-against average and an 8-7-1 record in goal.

The Tigers are fairly young this year with eight freshmen on the team. The veterans include four sophomores, six juniors and five seniors.

"This year we still have some young players, but the leadership is strong," Shackford said. "Maren is doing a good job integrating the freshman into our scheme. The freshmen were part of a highly ranked recruiting class, and a number of them are already competing."

Those freshmen aren't the only new thing for the team, either. Though Princeton has hosted its home games on Lourie-Love Field in years past, the Tigers will be playing their home games in Princeton Stadium this fall. A new $14 million soccer field and stadium will be ready for 2008.

And with the Ivy season about to begin, the Tigers hope to make the University exceptionally glad it spent every penny.