Bulldogs roll with two scores early in second half

When the women's soccer team's seniors walked off the pitch after yesterday's Senior Day game, they did not let the fresh loss tarnish what have been great careers.

"I have cherished all four years that I have been here and have learned so much from each team I was on," co-captain and goalkeeper Maren Dale said. "I wouldn't change anything about my time on this team."

Princeton (8-8-1 overall, 4-3 Ivy League) dropped a 3-1 decision to Yale (11-6 overall, 5-2 Ivy League) on Sunday, the last game for Dale, senior midfielders Ashley Beyers, Diana Matheson and Regina Yang and senior defenseman Melissa Whitley.

The Bulldogs struck first when Maggie Westfal punched in an outside shot just inside the crossbar, but the Tigers answered in the 28th minute when sophomore forward Vicki Anagnostopoulos knocked in a rebound following a corner kick by Beyers.

Yale scored twice in the first seven minutes of the second half to build a lead Princeton would be unable to overcome.

Yale outshot the Tigers 18-13 for the contest, forcing Dale to make six saves.

"I thought this was a good game; I thought that we played really well. I think that Yale was a little quicker in transition, which helped them to win today," head coach Julie Shackford said. "We played some pretty good soccer and had solid effort throughout the game. I think we got unlucky on a couple of chances."

Princeton held possession well but had trouble finishing. It strung together some nice sequences in the middle-to-late second half, which almost resulted in a couple goals.

"I thought we put up a good effort and played pretty well today against Yale. We had the same problem that we had all year, which is finishing," Dale said. "We make some nice plays in the offensive third, but we haven't been able to finish it with strong enough shots or touch-ins around the goal."

The visiting forwards' pace often troubled the Princeton defense and led to some of Yale's scoring opportunities.

"Defensively, something that we have been struggling with is countering the offense. We let them get that one goal in where we struggled to recover while in transition," Dale said. "These are clearly things that the younger players can work on and fix to be successful in the next couple of years."

The loss, however, did not break the departing seniors' spirits.

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"It's definitely not the way we wanted to end up, but these things happen in a game like soccer," Shackford said. "The seniors definitely put up a good effort, and they go away from the program with a Final Four, which is more than most people have done."

With the seniors leaving, the women's soccer team will have to fill in some of the gaps. Players like Matheson and Dale will be missed for their talent and leadership ability.

"I think the key for the younger players on the team is hard work on and off the field. I learned from my freshman year when we went to the Final Four that it takes hard work every single day, day in and day out," Dale said. "They definitely have the potential. It's not that they don't work hard at all, but it is always important to work hard on the things that you know you're not as good at. They need to define those trouble spots and work hard to make them better."

"We have to develop some goal-scorers because finishing has been a problem this year," Shackford said. "Obviously we need to get some younger goalkeepers. We were very good in the midfield. We need to get a little more athletic in the defense, especially losing Melissa Whitley. Clearly Diana [Matheson] will be hard to replace."

"Although there are big holes to fill, you never really know because the dynamic is so different from year to year," Shackford added. "It is not always based on talent in soccer, sometimes you just can't predict what will happen."