The women's soccer team had never lost to Lehigh as it headed into its Wednesday-night matchup against the Mountain Hawks. After a low-scoring struggle, Princeton maintained its dominance over its Patriot League foe, against which it has now won 13 straight. Freshman forward Alexandra Valerio gave the Tigers the 1-0 victory with a goal in the 42nd minute.
Despite the win, Princeton (7-4-1 overall, 3-0-0 Ivy League) was disappointed with its effort against Lehigh (5-6-3).
"It wasn't the best performance for us," senior midfielder Diana Matheson said. "Like the second half against Columbia on the weekend ... we struggled to keep possession as well as we would like."
Matheson leads the team with 20 points and contributed the lone assist against Lehigh. She booted a crossing pass to Valerio, setting up the Princeton goal. Matheson's 26 career assists are a Tiger record.
Though Matheson found issues with the overall performance, Princeton dominated Lehigh in nearly every statistical category. The Tigers launched 12 shots, compared to the Mountain Hawks' five, and they had six corner kicks while not allowing their opponent any.
Compared to last year's 5-0 win against Lehigh, though, a one-goal victory is a bit too close for comfort. It didn't help that the Tigers had to put down their books and travel to play at Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., on a Wednesday night.
"Midweek games are always really difficult, but we stuck it out and were able to pull away with a win," senior co-captain and goalkeeper Maren Dale said.
With just five Lehigh shots, Dale only needed two saves to clinch the shutout. On the other side of the field, three Mountain Hawk goalkeepers combined to save four while giving up the one game-deciding goal.
No matter how much of a struggle it may have been or how poorly the Tigers feel that they played, Princeton still returned home with a victory. The standings don't care about anything but the number of wins, and last night the Tigers added one more.
"It's good that we were able to get another win ... and great that [Valerio] was able to get the goal for us," Matheson said.
That all-important goal was Valerio's third of the season. Coming off the bench, the freshman played just 30 minutes but managed to convert on her only shot. When the ball found the back of the net, Valerio tied for the second-leading goal scorer on the team. Junior midfielder Jen Om owns the lead with four.
Princeton also had 15 fouls to Lehigh's five. Though penalties are never desirable, they indicate that the Tigers were clearly the more aggressive team. Now Princeton just needs to find a way to turn that aggression into more goals.

"Hopefully this [game] will motivate us to work harder and put together better soccer against Harvard this weekend," Dale said.
Crimson up next
Tomorrow's game at Harvard (8-4-1, 1-2-0) will bring the Tigers back to Ivy League competition, where they will try to remain undefeated in conference play. Princeton is tied with Penn for first place in the league.
Though Harvard has a 1-2 Ivy League record, it may be deceiving, considering that each loss was only by one goal. The Crimson also boasts a victory over Boston University, a team that beat Princeton earlier this season. Princeton, however, evens out that stat with a dominant 4-1 victory over Brown, who beat Harvard last weekend.
While it's easy to get caught up in statistics, it's impossible to overlook the effect of a rivalry. Princeton, particularly because it will be playing on the road, will have to play to its potential to earn a victory. Though the Tigers did win the last matchup at home, they fell in their last journey to Harvard in 2005 on a goal with 14 seconds left in the second overtime. Harvard also owns the series with an 18-8-1 record against Princeton.
This year, though, Princeton might be the better team. The Tigers have destroyed Ivy foes Dartmouth, Brown and Columbia, scoring a total of eight goals and allowing only two. Princeton has also permitted the fewest shots on goal in the conference, only 4.18 per game.
The question is whether the stats will rule in a rivalry game. After all, the only stat that matters at the end is the one in the win column.