Women's Soccer: Second-half surge propels Lions in Big Apple

The women’s soccer team was ranked No. 1 in the Ivy League as it headed to Columbia to face the second-place Lions on Saturday. But the Lions (8-2-3 overall, 3-0-1 Ivy League) handed the Tigers (8-5, 3-1) their first league loss of the season in a 2-0 decision and extended their own unbeaten streak to seven games. With the win, Columbia moved past Princeton into first place in the Ivy League.

The game was a tale of contrasting halves. The Tigers came out strong in the first half and controlled the ball and tempo of the game well. Ultimately, they could not get anything past Columbia goalie Lillian Klein, whose goals-against average is an Ivy League-best 0.58. The second half was characterized by a lack of rhythm on Princeton’s part and increased intensity from the Lions.

“We were able to play around them in the first half, and I think that we thought it was going to come easy to us in the second half,” sophomore midfielder Caitlin Blosser said. “I think our complacence got the best of us.”

The Tigers came closest to scoring in the 20th minute when sophomore midfielder Stephanie Iantorno took a shot at goal from about 20 yards out only to hit the crossbar. The Tigers got a second chance when senior midfielder Lauren Whatley picked up the rebound and made a sliding kick, but she missed wide.

“We played a beautiful half of soccer,” head coach Julie Shackford said. “We killed them in the first half. It’s a shame, because the stuff we did in the first half was maybe our best half of the year.”

Princeton created many chances on offense in the first half but failed to convert on multiple corner kicks and shots. Sophomore forward Jen Hoy and Blosser had combined for 13 goals in 12 games coming into Saturday’s match, but the Columbia defense held them to just one combined shot.

“They kept a lot of people back on defense,” Blosser said. “Personally, it was difficult because sometimes we had positions where it was two on six, so I think defensively they did a good job of executing their game plan.”

While Princeton’s offense slowed down considerably in the second half, Columbia’s kicked into gear. The Lions took the lead in the 58th minute when Columbia defender Chelsea Ryan tossed the ball into the box near sophomore goalie Kristin Watson, who jumped to grab the ball but could not get a good grip on it. Columbia midfielder Nora Dooley kicked the loose ball into the net for her first goal of the year, giving the Lions a 1-0 advantage.

“They came out with more intensity than they did in the first half, and I think that threw us off of our game a little bit,” Blosser said.

Dooley was not satisfied with just one goal and tacked on a second late in the game to put the nail in the coffin. On a corner kick in the 85th minute, Columbia midfielder Kelly Hostetler found forward Liz Wicks, who redirected the ball to Dooley. The Columbia freshman then shot the ball to the right side, sealing the win for the Lions.

“I thought in some ways it was a game that we gave away,” Shackford said. “We talked about the fact that their goals would come on set pieces. Both goals were on set pieces, something that we worked on and emphasized all of last week in practice.”

The Lions won the battle between the best two teams in the Ivy League, but the Tigers hope to regain first place over the course of their next three games. Princeton will host Harvard (5-5-1, 2-2) on Saturday at Roberts Stadium, but the Tigers will need some help from Dartmouth (4-6-2, 1-2-1), when the Big Green takes on No. 1 Columbia.

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Shackford said she was optimistic that if the Tigers win out, they will be able to regain first place. “I don’t think anyone is going to go through the league unbeaten,” Shackford said.

“We just need to regroup and just work on playing together,” Blosser said. “We have to play a 90-minute game. We only played 45 [on Saturday].”