The women’s soccer team appeared to be the more poised, determined and talented team at Roberts Stadium on Saturday. But Yale (5-3 overall, 1-0 Ivy League), unlike Princeton (2-5-1, 0-1), made the most of its limited opportunities on the way to dealing the Tigers a deflating 2-0 loss.
Princeton stormed the field with a purpose, and early in the game, everything was working in its favor. Shots, ball possession, corner kicks — the Tigers had the edge in all of those categories.
But in the 33rd minute, Bulldog forward Becky Brown gathered an excellent through ball and took a direct shot on sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Pont. Pont splayed out for the ball, making a diving stop. Yale forward Mary Kubiuk got behind the defense and easily chipped the rebound into the net for a 1-0 lead.
“The first goal in the league, the first goal in soccer is everything on so many levels,” head coach Julie Shackford said.
The Bulldogs had been packing the goal box with a slew of bodies from the start, making it difficult enough for the Tigers to score. After Yale took the 1-0 lead, however, the Bulldogs solidified their commitment to a defensive strategy.
At that point, the Tigers pushed up even further, and for the rest of the half and most of the second, Princeton was the team that threatened on offense, the team that earned a large number of corners and the team that constantly disrupted its opponent’s possession in the midfield.
History repeated itself, though. In the 56th minute, Brown used her speed on the counterattack to reach the back end of the Tiger defense. Brown found forward Miyuki Hino sprinting on the left side of the field and sent a perfect ball to the bottom of Hino’s feet.
Pont came sprinting out of the goal to challenge, but Hino buried her shot in the right half of the Princeton net for a 2-0 lead.
“We just can’t give up goals and counters. They only got two good opportunities, and they put them away,” senior defensive back and tri-captain Melissa Seitz said. “Not giving away the ball in the middle of the field [is how to prevent the counters] … It’s hard when they get those counters, and they’re good. That’s what Yale does well, so if we are able to win the balls in the middle of the field, those opportunities won’t happen.”
“I think it’s been the story of our season,” Shackford said of the team’s solid play but inability to take home victories. “We are a possession-oriented team, but if you’re not perfect with the ball, that’s exactly what happened: We got caught on a couple of counters. They are very opportunistic, and — give them credit — they followed their game plan, and I thought at times we just weren’t good enough with the ball.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, two opportunities were more than enough for Yale.
Princeton very nearly got itself back in the game after the second goal. The Tigers played the ensuing kickoff very aggressively. Speedy freshman forward Jen Hoy had the ball at the edge of the 18-yard box and, using her agility and quickness, managed to split a pair of defenders and put herself in a one-on-one situation with Bulldog goalie Ayana Sumiyasu.
Hoy had an excellent opportunity to put the ball in the goal, but her shot was stopped cold by Sumiyasu. The block stifled any hopes for a Tiger rally.
In the end, Princeton outshot the Bulldogs, 9-6. The Tigers also took a whopping 10 corners over the course of the match. None of their chances were converted into goals.
“I think if you have 10 corner kicks, one of them has to go in, and then we had a point-blank shot right in front of the goal … You make that, and it’s a different game,” Shackford said. “It’s very similar to a lot of the other games that we’ve had, where we’ve outshot teams and out-cornered them and had a lot of the ball, but it unfortunately just hasn’t added up.”
Princeton needs to find a way to translate its ball possession into goals. In some ways the Tigers tried too hard. Sometimes, the best way to score is to get physical in the box — to scratch and claw and put one on the board in an ugly fashion.
“I think it is that we are waiting for the perfect opportunity, and no one is willing to step up and try to get a bad goal, a dirty goal,” Seitz said. “That hasn’t happened, and it happens with every team we play, and we haven’t found the person who’s going to do it yet.”
That will come as the young team continues to look for cohesion. But the Tigers cannot afford to dwell on their disjointed offense or the loss. Princeton will play Fairfield in Connecticut on Tuesday and then move on to Hanover, N.H., to take on Dartmouth next Saturday.
“Winning this game would have been huge for us because we only have three home games in the Ivy League, but every team is going to lose because the Ivy League is a huge battle,” Seitz said. “We have to keep our heads up and keep going … We have to keep plugging away.”
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