While other students were packing up and moving back to campus this fall, the women’s soccer team was already slaying its foes on the pitch. After a tough 2009 campaign, the Tigers look to improve this year both overall and in the Ivy League.
Princeton finished the 2009 season in fifth place in the Ivy League. It posted a 7-7-3 overall record and a 3-3-1 record against its Ivy opponents.
This year, the Tigers will play 17 games, and 10 of them will be at home. They won’t have to travel far for their away games, either. While contests against Utah and Wyoming forced the women to travel west last season, their longest trip this year will be to Ithaca, N.Y., to face Cornell.
The Tigers are currently ranked No. 3 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll for the mid-Atlantic region behind Dayton and Hofstra, who they face on Sept. 19 on Long Island. Ivy opponents Columbia and Penn are ranked No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.
Over the past few years, the Tigers have been known for their impenetrable defense. They allowed only .50 goals per game in 2008 and .78 goals per game in 2009. They also shut out six opponents, including Ivy League teams Brown, Columbia, Cornell and eventual champion Harvard.
A major reason for Princeton’s amazing defense has been senior goalkeeper Alyssa Pont. She was honored for her skills in the net with her second All-Ivy selection first team last year. Pont had the most league shutouts of any Ivy League keeper last year with four.
The team only lost three seniors last year, so nearly the entire squad returns.
“Usually when we come back for preseason there is so much anxiety and we don’t know what the personality of the team is going to be,” senior midfielder Lauren Whatley said. “This year it feels like it’s the same team, just a new season.”
“It’s not as different as in past seasons where we’ve come in with eight freshmen,” she said.
The Tigers add four new freshmen to their roster this year.
Though the team lost only three seniors, the Tigers will miss the presence of Melissa Seitz ’10 in the backfield. Seitz was a four-year starter, co-captain, and was also named to the All-Ivy first team last year.
The Tigers also return Ivy League Rookie of the Year Alison Nabatoff to their defense. She was also selected as an honorable mention to the All-Ivy team.
Whatley also pointed to sophomore forward Jen Hoy as a force on the attacking end of the field.
“She’s a great player,” Whatley said. “Jen Hoy is like the fastest girl you’ll ever see play soccer.”
Other standouts include senior midfielder and co-captain Kayleigh Iatarola, senior forward and co-captain Alex Valerio and sophomore midfielder Caitlin Blosser.
Though the Tigers were effective at keeping the ball out of their own net, they also had trouble putting it into the back of the net on the other end of the field. Whatley said they have made some changes and are working to improve their attack.
“Starting in the spring we adopted a new formation that caters to the players we have,” she said.
The Tigers scored six goals in their last game against James Madison. “[The new formation] seems to be working,” Whatley said.
The Tigers face some tough non-league opponents this season, including No. 24 Rutgers, which they played on Sept. 3, losing 2-0. The Tigers start their Ivy League season against Yale on Sept. 25 in New Haven, Conn.
“Our primary focus is always the Ivy League championship,” Whatley said. The team’s focus is specifically on defeating Yale, Penn and defending champion Harvard, she said.
The outlook is different than in past years. “There are all these preseason polls saying we’re going to be mediocre,” Whatley said.
“We finally get to be the underdogs,” she said. “It’s cool, kind of a different mentality.”
Despite those preseason polls, the team is excited, Whatley said. “There’s a lot of positive energy. People are happy with how we’ve been playing. The team seems to be coming together well.”
The Tigers’ next game is Friday at 5 p.m. at Roberts Stadium against Long Island.
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