Women's Soccer: Lions bring potent attack to Roberts Stadium

The women’s soccer team will look to extend its 292-minute-long shutout streak when it hosts Columbia in a crucial Ivy League contest Saturday.

“Every game in the Ivy League is pretty much a must-win game, so they’re all equally important,” junior goalkeeper Alyssa Pont said. “We always want to go out there and fight.”

Columbia (6-5-2 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) comes into the game with a two-game winning streak, scoring an impressive seven goals in those two games. The team’s high-powered offense is led by forwards Ashlin Yahr and Sophie Reiser, who themselves have posted three more goals than the Tigers (5-6-2, 1-2) have all season. This means that the battle between the solid Tiger defense and the blazing Lion offense will be the key matchup of the game, and to win, the Tiger defense will have to step up.

“I’ve been working on … quick counters,” Pont said. “I need to get the ball and put it out to our super-fast forwards. That’s been really effective, and I’m hoping to do that a bit more.”

One can expect the Tiger defense to ratchet up the pressure. It has been stingy all year, never giving up more than two goals per contest. Senior captain Melissa Seitz, sophomore Kim Menafra and freshman Alison Nabatoff, all defenders, have been extremely effective on defense. And over the last three games, Princeton has allowed no goals, preserving two 1-0 leads over American and Brown and sustaining a scoreless tie against Lehigh on Wednesday.

Yet the Lions have been much more effective at finishing their chances, as evidenced by the number of goals they have scored. This stands in contrast to the Tiger offense, which has too often come up short in clutch situations this season: Princeton’s opponents have outscored it, 13-11, this season. The Tigers will need to find the back of the net more often to have a chance against Columbia.

Pont said she hopes that her team has turned the corner.

“We have a very dangerous offense, but sometimes we just don’t capitalize on our chances,” Pont said. “We need to finish our goals and chances.”

The two points gained from a win are much more valuable to Princeton right now in the Ivy League standings than the one point that would result from a tie. To have any chance of catching Yale, which currently leads the Ancient Eight, the Tigers need to win their last three Ivy League games.

But as Pont pointed out, since there are only seven Ivy League contests per year, Princeton is used to being in must-win situations.

“[All Ivy League games] are equally important,” Pont said. “We’re not stressing out over it.”

On the offensive end, the Tigers will look to continued production from junior midfielder Lauren Whatley, who has scored their only two goals in their last three games. If Whatley and other Tigers can find a way to the back of the net, the path to victory will be much clearer.

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Because its chances of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament are fairly slim, Princeton’s only path to the tournament is through the Ivy League championship. The Tigers’ last four games, all conference matchups, will determine their fate. If Princeton plays effective defense as it has in its past few matchups, the Tigers might be able to notch a win against the Lions.