Women's soccer to take on Columbia

The women’s soccer team will head to Columbia this weekend looking to extend its three-game winning streak and fortify its spot at the top of the Ivy League. The Tigers (5-3-3 overall, 2-0-1 Ivy), who are coming off consecutive shutout wins against Army and Brown, find themselves in a tie with Harvard for first place in the Ivy League. Saturday’s game against Columbia will be played at 7 p.m.

After a hot start to the season, the Lions (5-2-5 overall, 1-1-1 Ivy) are winless in the last three games, all on the road, and have not scored a goal in their last two games. The Lions’ recent offensive slump includes a loss to Penn as well as ties with Brown and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. However, the Lions still hover near the Tigers in the Ivy League standings, currently in third place, and will be looking to turn things around at home.

While it’s been a team effort, the Tigers, unbeaten in the past five games, including a tie, have been led by the combination of the dominating duo of sophomore forward Tyler Lussi and senior defender Lauren Lazo, and senior goalkeeper Darcy Hargadon. Lussi and Lazo have scored and assisted on a combined nine goals in the past three games, while Hargadon has kept the Tigers on a shutout streak of over 200 minutes since the second half of last week’s game against Lehigh. This past week, Lussi and freshman forward Mikaela Symanovitch were named Ivy League Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively.

Lussi also became the first Ivy player to record a hat trick this season, accomplishing the feat last weekend against Brown. Following a successful freshman season with 10 goals and four assists, Lussi has already scored 11 goals this season, with nine in the past four games. Lussi currently leads the Ivy League in number of goals (11), points earned (23), and shots taken (57). Lussi is now only four goals away from breaking the Princeton record for most goals scored by the end of a player’s sophomore year. Scoring at least two goals in each of the last four games, Lussi is currently sitting in 12th place on the Princeton all-time career list with 21 career goals. She is just five career goals behind her All-Ivy teammate Lazo.

In a typical strong showing, Lazo scored her 26th career goal against Army on Tuesday, moving up into a three-way tie for fifth place on Princeton’s all-time list. Already named Ivy League Player of this week earlier this season, the three-time All-Ivy honors recipient has proven to be an incredibly versatile player, leading the team with seven assists and six goals. Lazo also leads the Ivy League in number of assists, and is second and third in the league for number of points earned (19) and goals scored, respectively.

Hargadon has defended the Tigers’ goal for 813 out of a total 1050 minutes so far this season, starting 10 games this season and missing only one game due to an injury. Hargadon has a save percentage of .658 on 25 saves and has been playing fantastically the past few games with her impressive shutout streak. Other Tiger goalkeepers who have seen playing time include sophomore Hannah Winner and freshman Godrun Jonsdottir, who have nine and three saves, respectively.

Rookie of the Week Symanovitch has been playing well in her first season on the team. With one goal and three assists, Symanovitch joins classmates forward Beth Stella and midfielder Vanessa Gregoire in receiving the Ivy rookie honor this season. Earlier this season, Stella had both a goal and an assist over the course of one week, and Gregoire assisted Lussi for a goal, playing at a high level that earned them league recognition.

The Tigers have emerged as league leaders in team offense with 22 goals scored this season translating into a 2.00 scoring average per game. In contrast, the Lions have scored a total of 11 goals this season with an average of .92 goals scored per game. The Lions, however, have a higher save percentage (.805) than the Tigers (.684). Lions goalkeeper Grace Redmon has played 581 minutes this season with a save percentage of .850, the third best save percentage in the Ivy League, while goalkeeper Gabby Dubick has played 443 minutes with a save percentage of .778. Columbia forward Coleen Rizzo leads the Lions with three goals and is in third in the Ivy League for number of shots taken (37). Other notable players include Grace Taylor, who has two goals and one assist this season, and Madeline Linde, who has also scored two goals this season.