Women's Soccer: Princeton hosts Yale in league premiere

The women’s soccer team opens up its Ivy League season against Yale on Saturday, playing the Bulldogs at Roberts Stadium at 3:30 p.m. The Tigers (1-5-1) hope to bounce back from a rough beginning to their non-league season, which has included just one win in seven frustrating games.

Last year, Princeton went 4-2-1 in its Ivy League matches. For the past three years, the Tigers have opened up Ivy League play against the Bulldogs (3-3-2) — winning two of the three games — and only once came into the matchup with a winning record.

Yale, unlike Princeton, has been a markedly different team at home than on the road. Whereas the Bulldogs are undefeated at their Reese Stadium this season (3-0-2), they have lost all three away games. The Tigers have tied one and lost one at home after opening 1-4 on the road.

Despite its early struggles and contrary to what its record suggests, the team believes it has improved over the course of the season.

“Our first set of games was very challenging — we went out to California and played some great teams and saw what we needed to work on,” said senior midfielder Sara Chehrehsa, who scored Princeton’s first goal against Lafayette on Wednesday night. “Even though the results don’t show it, at every game we have been able to work on a new facet of our game, and I think we are at a point where it will all come together for our Ivy League opener.”

“We have definitely learned a lot about what our team is made of, and we’ve seen the potential we have as a group,” said freshman forward Liana Cornacchio, who also scored on Wednesday. “The games were a great warm up for the Ivy [League season]; better results would have been nice, but, either way, they have prepared us for the part of our season that really counts.”

During the first six games of the season, the Tigers were outshot by their opponents on aggregate. But they turned that around in a big way at home on Wednesday, taking 29 shots to Lafayette’s three.

The 26 extra shots did not translate into more goals for the Tigers, however, as the game ended in a 2-2 draw after two overtime periods.

“Over the last few days, we have put an emphasis on attacking and getting shots on goal,” Chehrehsa said. “We possess the ball extremely well but just needed that extra urgency to take shots and create chances in the attacking third. During the game versus Lafayette we finally played with that urgency, and I am confident that we will continue to outshoot opponents in the upcoming games.”

The Ivy League season offers a clean slate and fresh opportunity for the Tigers to start this season anew.

“We dug ourselves into a hole early in the season, but we are coming out of it and the Ivy League is where we take off and win,” Cornacchio said. “We have really learned to play to our strengths, and no matter how good any other Ivy League team is, if we play our best soccer, no one can stop us.”

The Tigers have historically been dominant at home, posting a 22-7-4 record at Roberts Stadium from 2007 through 2010, though they are winless in two games on Myslik Field so far this season.

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“I know that all of my teammates would agree with me when I say that it is both an honor and a privilege to play on the Princeton women’s soccer team,” said junior forward Jen Hoy, who leads the team in points and shares the team lead in goals and assists. “There is nothing better than defending our home turf in front of the friends and family who come out to support us.”

After this weekend’s match, Princeton travels to Dartmouth and Brown before returning home on Oct. 10.