Last weekend, the Tigers suffered a tough 4-0 loss to Harvard, which put them in third place in the league, behind Columbia in first and Penn in second.
Prior to the loss, Princeton was in second place, behind Columbia.
“We’re hoping to keep possession better this weekend and finish more of our chances to give us a better chance to win against Cornell,” junior forward Barb Previ said.
A week before the game against Harvard, the Tigers lost their first league game to Columbia, 2-0.
The Big Red, currently seventh in the league, has two strong weeks behind them. Last Saturday, Cornell’s game against Brown ended in a scoreless tie after two overtimes.
The week prior, the Big Red beat Yale in a 1-0 victory.
Cornell’s win against Yale was its first Ivy League win in its past 12 league games.
Princeton has beaten both Brown and Yale in 1-0 games this season.
“I think everybody in the league can be beaten on any given day,” head coach Julie Shackford said. “Cornell beat Yale and tied Brown, so they have confidence and they’re doing something right. Our approach to any league game isn’t different. It’ll be a battle, and they’re at home so it’ll give us a challenge.”
For the 15 years that Shackford has been coaching, the Tigers have only lost to Cornell once, in 1995.
After last weekend’s disappointing loss, the Tigers have learned from their mistakes and are looking to improve this Saturday.
Shackford is hoping their biggest change comes in the team’s mentality.
“I hope we won’t be as tight. We weren’t able to execute. People were nervous, and I would say the psyche has to be strong [this weekend]. The kids have to be mentally tough, and we have to score an early goal. An early goal [against Harvard] could have changed the complexity of the game,” Shackford said.
The Tigers are looking forward to cleaning up their skills on the field and to playing a cohesive and focused game.
“The game plan this weekend is to keep possession well and finish the opportunities that the game presents to us to give our team the best chance to win this weekend and consequently stay in the chase for the Ivy League title,” Previ said. “All of our Ivy League games are intense and competitive, and this weekend should be no exception.”
Shackford agreed that capitalizing on chances will be important, and she added that the Tigers will have to play solid defense and “have more passion in our play.”
Despite the two losses over the past two weekends, the Tigers still have a chance for the Ivy League title, but it depends on winning their final two games and both Columbia and Harvard getting a loss or a tie.
“We did good work early on so we’re in a decent position, but we have no lives left. We can only focus on ourselves for now,” Shackford said.
Despite not earning any points in the past two games, sophomore midfielder Caitlin Blosser still shares the top spot in the league for assists, with seven.
Sophomore forward Jen Hoy is part of a three-way tie for first place in the league in goals, with seven.
Overall, the Tigers feel well prepared for the upcoming game.
“The team is feeling pretty good,” Previ said. “It’s midterm week, but other than that we don’t have a midweek game, so we’re looking forward to getting back on the field this weekend.”
“We’re excited to get back on track,” Shackford said.
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