Women's Soccer: Tie eliminates Tigers from Ivy League championship chase

In order to make their last game the championship battle, the Tigers defeated Cornell (6-7-1, 1-4-1) 2-1 in overtime the previous Saturday. Junior defender Kalie Bartholomew scored in the sixth minute of overtime to solidify the Princeton win. It was Bartholomew’s second goal for the season; her first was the lone goal against Brown, meaning both of her goals were game-winners.

“We lost two bad games in the league and we were still able to put ourselves in the position to play for a championship,” head coach Julie Shackford said of the team’s performance over fall break. “They’ve been pretty resilient all year ... I don’t think they were ever really mentally out of it. They fought hard the whole season.”

The first goal of the game came from the Big Red in the 42nd minute. The Tigers were able to answer back two minutes later, when a Cornell defender tipped the ball past Cornell goalie Megan Bartlett.

Bartholomew’s game-winning goal was assisted by freshman midfielder Erika Hoglund, who controlled the ball in the box after a corner kick and passed it to Bartholomew. Overall, the Tigers outshot the Big Red 17-11. Sophomore goalie Kristin Watson made five saves, while Cornell’s goalie made six.

The Tigers’ final match was an intense and hard-fought 110 minutes of play, with two halves and two 10-minute overtimes. The stands were packed with Princeton and Penn fans alike to cheer on the teams for the final regular season game.

Princeton had to change its lineup due to injuries, which allowed sophomore goalie Claire Pinciaro to see her first career start and longest amount of playing time in the game against Penn. Before the Penn match, Pinciaro had played only 22 minutes in her career, in Princeton’s 4-0 loss to Harvard earlier this season. She stepped up and had a strong showing, recording five saves and making strong plays to help the defense.

Shackford noted that putting Pinciaro in goal was a smooth transition for the team. “Claire had a heck of a game,” she said. “I thought that was the most special part of the night, to do what she did with only 22 minutes under her belt.”

The Tigers played mainly an offensive game throughout both halves, sparked by sophomore forwards Jen Hoy and Rachel Saunders, who kept the intensity high the whole game. This was part of Shackford’s strategy: to put three runners on top of the field, with Hoy, Saunders and sophomore forward Caitlin Blosser.

Bartholomew, junior defender Kim Menafra and freshman defender Kacie Kergides played solid defense, keeping the Quakers out of Tiger territory for the majority of the second half, and helped get the ball into the offensive zone. Princeton also saw a strong effort from freshman midfielder Gabriella Guzman, who played the ball all over the field to help the Tiger offense.

Hoy and Saunders both created many opportunities for Princeton near the goal — including a shot in the box by Hoy halfway through the first overtime that went just wide to the right of the goal — but were thwarted by a strong Penn defense.

Since the Quakers only needed a tie to win the Ivy League title, they could play more conservatively than the Tigers.

“They could keep more people back and not worry about transitions,” Shackford explained. “They came in with an extra point and that, today, was the difference.”

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Overall in the league, Blosser came in second for most points with 19, and Hoy finished tied for fourth with 14 points on the season. Hoy was part of a three-way tie for second in most goals with seven, putting Blosser at fifth with six goals. Blosser was also tied for second in the league for assists, with seven.