Women's Soccer: Pont, defense shine in scoreless tie

Correction appended

Two hundred and ninety-two minutes and counting — that’s the women’s soccer team’s latest shutout streak. Unfortunately for Princeton (5-6-2), goals have been almost as scarce as for its offense as well. The result of the latest shutdown defensive performance was a scoreless double-overtime tie with Lehigh (7-3-4) on Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa.

The 272 minutes are a far cry from last year’s streak of 702 minutes, but it’s been impressive nonetheless. It’s not like the Mountain Hawks have had much success scoring against the Tigers in the past, either — Princeton is now 14-0-1 against Lehigh overall, and the Mountain Hawks have scored all of one goal against the Tigers in those 15 games, way back in 1994.

“Our defense played phenomenal,” senior forward and tri-captain Marci Pasenello said. “They didn’t give up anything.”

The game got off to a slow start for the Tigers, however, with Lehigh recording the first seven shots of the game. Fortunately for Princeton, junior goalkeeper Alyssa Pont was up to the task. Pont made four saves before the Tigers could mount a shot on the Mountain Hawks’ goal.

Pont finished with five saves for the night. It was her fifth shutout of the season, all of which have come in the last seven games.

“Aly [Pont] had a phenomenal game,” Pasenello said. “She had some really great saves coming off of her line. She was very dominant in the box.”

The second half was much less one-sided, but the Mountain Hawks still outshot the Tigers, 5-3. Both defenses held firm, though, and neither side had a shot that found the frame.

And then the game took on a decided shift in momentum.

“There was a definite change towards the end of the game to when the overtimes took place,” Pasenello said. “It was like two different games.”

Princeton amped up the pressure in the first overtime but had only one shot to show for it. Still, it was a good one: Freshman forward Jen Hoy’s strike found the frame, but Lehigh goalkeeper Lauren Mains made the save. On the other side of the pitch, defender Genna Pepe tested Pont one more time, but the game remained scoreless.

The Tigers had the only two shots of the second overtime period. Hoy’s attempt went wide of the net, while junior midfielder Lauren Whatley, who had played the hero role in the last two games by scoring a pair of game-winners, also had a shot, but it was blocked.

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Whatley led Princeton with four shots on the evening.

For the Tigers, it was another night of frustration on the offensive end. Princeton continues to generate chances, but the finishing touch has not materialized thus far.

“Offensively, it was really disappointing,” Pasenello said. “It’s our job to score goals. We created opportunities, but we didn’t put one in, and that’s kind of been the trend this season.”

Still, there were positives to take away from the game. For one, the defense, composed of several underclassmen and senior tri-captain Melissa Seitz, has really come together of late. If the Tigers play that way week in and week out, they will have a chance to win games no matter what the offense does.

On the other end, Princeton did showcase a much more aggressive attack in the overtime periods.

“We saw that in the overtime tonight. I think if we just come out with the mentality that we can make stuff happen, if we just play as hard as we possibly can, good things will happen,” Pasenello said. “If we can put everything out there … it might be a better game plan than to conserve ourselves and wait for the opportunity to come.”

“I think it’s just sometimes as a bunch of players, we look for the perfect shot, and it doesn’t always work out to be the best thing to do,” Pasenello said.

The Tigers will take on Columbia this Saturday afternoon at Roberts Stadium. It will be a welcome return home, too, as Princeton has played four of its last five games on the road.

“I think we’re all extremely excited to be at home again and in our stadium … It’s always an advantage to be at home. We have [the last] three games as shutouts, so we can go in really confident in our defense.”

Correction

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Princeton's shutout streak is 272 minutes long.