2-0 lead at half makes for easy win

The women's soccer team kept the good times rolling against Columbia on Saturday, roaring to a 2-0 win over the Lions at Princeton Stadium to extend its winning streak to six games and keep its perfect Ivy League record.

Princeton (6-4-1 overall, 3-0-0 Ivy League) was firing on all cylinders in the first half, passing and controlling the ball well as it jumped to a two-goal lead that Columbia (6-4-3, 1-2-0) was unable to overcome.

The game remained a scoreless affair for the first 35 minutes when sophomore forward Marci Pasenello drew a penalty in the box. Senior co-captain and midfielder Diana Matheson placed a perfect penalty shot in the right side of the net to put the Tigers up 1-0.

Princeton demonstrated the hustle and determination that characterized its play during its second goal. Controlling the ball from the corner with about 20 seconds to go, freshman midfielder Libby van Beuren passed the ball inside to Matheson. Matheson took a shot from the corner, the ball went off the far post and after a bit of a scramble, freshman defender Marissa Sampias tapped the ball into the back of the net with five seconds to go in the half.

The goal was Sampias' first as a Tiger. Matheson, meanwhile, was credited with an assist and raised her team-high point total to 12.

"I'm very pleased with the shutout," head coach Julie Shackford said. "[Senior co-captain and goalkeeper] Maren [Dale] had a great game in the net, and [van Beuren] and [Matheson] did a great job making a heady play on the second goal."

Princeton tallied eight shots, two corner kicks, seven fouls and one save in the first half. Columbia had only two shots, with no corners, no saves and 12 fouls at the half.

But Columbia wasn't done yet, and it resumed play with more intensity than it had shown in the first half. The Lions were doing a much better job of taking Princeton out of its rhythm. The Tigers were finding it more difficult to put together a string of crisp passes while moving up the field as they had done in the first period.

"I thought we played really well in the first 20, 25 minutes and then fell off late in the first half, early in the second half and in the last half hour of the game," Shackford said. "It is sort of a sports cliche, but if you're up [in] goals, that's when other teams start to push."

The Lions were far more controlled in the second half, not committing a single foul. The Tigers had 10 fouls after the break, for a total of 17 over the game. Columbia also upped its offensive pressure after halftime, edging Princeton six to five in the shots category and taking four corner kicks to the Tigers' one.

After the game, Princeton's late offensive struggles were a cause for concern.

"We still need to work on keeping the ball," Shackford said. "We kept the ball for really good moments, but not consistently. We have to avoid being too complacent and work on our possession. I also think that we had a few opportunities to score, and we were unable to finish."

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"We did win a lot of balls from them, but we just weren't keeping it after that," Matheson said. "We definitely have the talent to improve upon this."

With the Lion offense dictating play in the second half, Princeton's defense showed resilience and an impressive ability to hold off the Columbia charge, as the Tigers continued winning many of the midfield battles for possession.

"I think a major key to the game was just working hard," Dale said. "I do think that the defense did a good job staying with their marks."

The win increased the Tigers' lead in the all-time Princeton-Columbia series to 17-4-2. It also put Princeton in a first-place tie with Penn in the Ivy League standings at 3-0-0.

"I think some of the keys of the game were to maintain composure and not give anything up," Shackford said. "It wasn't the prettiest game, but getting those early goals really helped us. We knew Columbia wasn't going to make it easy, and they deserve credit for battling hard."

The Tigers will try to build on their winning streak when they travel to Lehigh for a non-conference game Wednesday night before facing Ivy foe Harvard on Saturday.