Women’s soccer falls to a last minute goal by Penn

Princeton women’s soccer (5–5–1 overall, 1–2–0 Ivy League) fought to break through Penn’s defense (6–4–2, 1–1–1) but were ultimately defeated in the 87th minute with the first and only goal of the match. 

On Saturday, the Tigers hosted Penn’s Quakers at Myslik Field in Roberts Stadium for Kick Cancer Night. Princeton was coming off of a 2–1 victory against Yale and hoped to keep their conference win streak going.

After kickoff, neither team kept control for long until the Tigers got the first corner kick of the night at the five minute mark. The ball was kicked straight to captain senior defender Zoe Markesini who pushed in with a header that bounced off the top crossbar. Not giving up, Markesini got another chance a few seconds later; her second shot was blocked.

Penn briefly took control and moved the ball downfield to take a quick shot that went wide of the goal. The Tigers regained their momentum and went back on the attack. Between the 19th and 23rd minutes, Princeton had three unsuccessful shots, one of which was on target. Sophomore forward Nina Cantor kicked the shot on goal, but her attempt was saved by Penn’s goalkeeper Ria Desai.

“I think I did a good job at drawing people away, because I felt like there were constantly two or three people on me, which opened up another player,” Cantor told The Daily Princetonian when reflecting on her performance in the match.

Many of the Tigers faced tight coverage throughout the match, such as sophomore midfielder Maddie Recupero, who made two shots in the 24th and 32nd minutes and passed the ball through triple coverage in the 26th.

Junior forward Dylan Jovanovic played all 90 minutes and provided several opportunities for crosses the entire match. Jovanovic continuously found breakthroughs and slipped through Penn’s defense to help keep Princeton on the attack for most of the game.

With two minutes left in the half, Jovanovic fired toward the top center of the goal, but the ball was again saved by Desai. Soon after, the Tigers earned a corner kick where junior forward Alexandra Barry took her first shot of the game but it passed just left of the post.

At halftime, Penn had five shots compared to the Tigers’ 10, which were attempted by six different players. Princeton also led in fouls, receiving three while Penn had none.

“[We wanted] to be more aggressive in the final third, and then start our passes better, not letting them get away from us. [We were] trying to be more aggressive and win the one v. one battles all over the field,” Jovanovic said of the team’s halftime discussions. 

Shortly after the kickoff into the second half, Penn took early control and fired off a shot, but was blocked before reaching the goal. 

To get the ball back across the field, sophomore midfielder Anna Chau sent multiple passes past Penn’s defensive line teammates to intercept and lead an attack. These passes brought Princeton two more shots within a minute: one by Recupero that was saved by Desai, followed by another by Barry. 

Princeton stayed on attack with two more shots on goal in the 52nd minute by Jovanovic and the 57th minute by first-year midfielder Blane McElroy. Still, the Tigers could not find the back of the net, with Desai making seven saves by the end of the match.

“Something that I thought our team did well was fight,” Chau said. “I think that a lot of our wingers put in a lot of effort to get back, and same with their nines [strikers]. They had a lot to deal with with the center backs on them all the time.”

The pace of the game slowed in the latter part of the half, and the ball was contested more. Penn received the only yellow card of the match in the 77th minute, but the momentum remained the same afterward.

After lots of back-and-forth, the Quakers took charge after a throw-in at the 88th minute. They fired a shot that was blocked and knocked back temporarily before they set up a cross that snuck the ball around senior goalkeeper Cecilia Cerone, putting the Quakers in the lead with 2:31 on the clock. 

The Tigers tried to push downfield but the Penn women took every opportunity to send the ball across the field to kill time. 

By the end of the match, Princeton led in shots 19–9 and in corner kicks 10–6. Ultimately, Penn only had one shot on goal but that ended up being all they needed to win.

“We have to find a way to win,” Jovanovic said. “Whether it’s finishing, it’s being more disciplined, or playing together more. But I think we’re gonna have to come together, and we’ve got to put this behind us, and we have to get through more wins and make the Ivy tournament.”

Next weekend, the Tigers will be traveling to Ithaca, N.Y., to play against Cornell on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 1 p.m.

Brooklyn Fraser is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince’. She can be reached at bf8103[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.