Women's Soccer: Princeton trio goes Regional

For the women’s soccer team, the NSCAA’s announcement of the 2008 All-Mid-Atlantic Region teams came as a reminder of how important this year’s cast of seniors were for the program’s success — and how much they will be missed.

Princeton’s season ended last month with a 2-1 loss to West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA College Cup, college soccer’s championship tournament. It was the Tigers’ first appearance in the College Cup since 2004, when Canadian Olympian Diana Matheson ’08 and the Tigers came within two wins of the championship. The leadership of Numann, Chinn and Peteraf — along with that of senior midfielder Jen Om — was instrumental in Princeton’s success this season, especially down the stretch.

Chinn and Numann helped make Princeton’s defense one of the stingiest in the Ivy League, allowing an average of 0.53 goals per game in 2008.

Numann, who has started every game of her Princeton career, said she was overjoyed when she found out from her mom that the NSCAA had selected her for its All-Mid-Atlantic Region first team.

“It’s a huge honor and a really nice note to end a college career on,” Numann said. Though a defender, Numann put her offensive talents on display against Penn in Princeton’s last regular-season game, scoring both of Princeton goals in a 2-1 victory that guaranteed the Tigers their first NCAA playoff berth in four years and a share of the Ivy League title. To her teammates and head coach Julie Shackford, however, Numann will be most remembered for her defensive aptitude.

“She’s hard-working, consistent and a really smart defender,” Chinn said of Numann. “She definitely helped us organize our defense and set plays from the back this year.”

Unlike Numann, Chinn, who also earned first-team All-Ivy honors in November, has spent most of her college career, including the first half of this season, in the midfield. As a midfielder, Chinn scored the game-winning goal against Boston University in Princeton’s inaugural game at Roberts’ Stadium on Sept. 5. Shackford, however, decided to permanently move the East Brunswick, N.J., native to the backfield after Chinn posted an impressive defensive performance in Princeton’s 0-0 tie against league-rival Brown.

“Lisa is one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever coached,” Shackford said. “She is able to play at any spot on the field. She really was the nuts and bolts, the heart and soul of our group.”

Meanwhile, Peteraf, who didn’t score any goals as a junior, went on an offensive tear this season, scoring 12 goals — more than the number of goals opponents scored against the Tigers all season — in 17 games. Of Peteraf’s 12 goals, seven were game-winners.

“Pretty much when we needed someone to score for us, [Peteraf] was there,” Shackford said.

Peteraf attributes her breakout season mostly to momentum and happenstance.

“I think that once you start getting a little bit of success, then you can kind of build on that,” Peteraf said. “So I think that I had some luck at the beginning of the season, and I was able to build on that over the rest of the season.”

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Shackford said that she’s surprised and disappointed that the NSCAA didn’t recognize Om, one of the team’s tri-captains, for her contributions. Nevertheless, Shackford can take solace in knowing that Numann, Chinn and Peteraf received the recognition they deserve for their leadership and performances this fall.

“[This is] possibly the best group of senior leaders we’ve ever had,” Shackford said. “They never wavered.”