Tigers face Central Connecticut tonight
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton University women’s soccer team has accomplished a lot already, and the season is only half over.
Sort of.
The Tigers begin the "second season" when they host Central Connecticut State approximately 7:30 p.m. tonight in the NCAA tournament first round at Lourie-Love Field. Princeton earned the seventh seed and will serve as a regional host for the first two rounds. Tonight’s first game pits Yale, an at-large bid out of the Ivy League, against Villanova at 5 p.m. The winners play 1 p.m. Sunday at Lourie-Love Field.
"I think they have a couple really dangerous players up top," said PU head coach Julie Shackford. "Obviously they’re seasoned being in the tournament. They played spoiler last year. So they’re a formidable opponent.
"It’s nice to be home. You don’t have to pull kids out of classes. You don’t have to travel. We know our field and have been playing well on it."
Princeton has not played Central Connecticut State, but beat both Yale and Villanova on its way to a 15-2 regular season. The Bulldogs were one of seven Ivy opponents to fall in the first perfect 7-0 conference record in Princeton program history.
"There are plusses and minuses to it," Shackford said of a potential rematch. "You know the teams. If we’d advance, we beat both of them, so both of them will be ready to play."
Tuesday, seven Tiger players were honored with All-Ivy accolades. Esmeralda Negron was named Ivy League Player of the Year for the second straight season. Amanda Matheson was named Rookie of the Year. Romy Trigg-Smith and Emily Behncke joined Negron and Matheson as Ivy first-team honorees while Janine Willis and Elizabeth Pillion were second-team members and Brea Griffiths was named honorable mention.
The records, honors and even the No. 7 seeding affirm it’s been a great season, but it won’t mean much when they take the field tonight in the single-elimination tournament.
"There’s a little of that," Trigg-Smith said. "It’s how you start off what leads you into the tournament. It almost doesn’t matter. Our coach was saying that this is how you’re going to be remembered next year. It’s really another season. One game badly played is the end of it."
Princeton is playing in its sixth straight NCAA tournament, but the Tigers are hoping for greater success than in years past. They won an NCAA game in 2001, 3-1 against Loyola, the last time they hosted an NCAA game. But in the two years since, they’ve bowed out in the first round.
"Being home means a great deal to us," Trigg-Smith said. "The seeding is means a lot too. We like to focus on ourselves more than our opponents. My freshman year, we had to play at Penn State. They’re a powerhouse team that expects to do so well. It puts that much more pressure on. A home date is what excited us, and definitely the seed did as well."
The pressure is on the visitors to Lourie-Love Field who will be facing a Princeton team that will be trying to build on a school-record 15 wins. The Tigers are a perfect 8-0 at home this season. They have a greater than 200-shot advantage on their opponents, and have outscored the opposition, 47-8, this year. They ended the regular season with a 4-1 win over Pennsylvania.
"Everyone is really still excited," said Trigg-Smith, part of Princeton’s defense that is allowing just 0.5 goals per game. "In years past, we’ve gone in a little hesitant on how we can do. Everyone is positive about giving it our best.
"We definitely ended on a high note. It’s a great way to enter the tournament. We played one of the best first halves we’ve had. It’s a great game to come off of."
Princeton faces a veteran NCAA tournament team of its own in Central Connecticut State. Last year in the NCAAs, the Northeast Conference champion Blue Devils upset Boston College before losing in two overtimes to eventual finalist Connecticut.
"Yale only beat them by one goal," Trigg-Smith said. "No opponent is going to be easy. Every game is anything can happen on any given day. A lot depends on how we go out and our mentality on that day."
Princeton enters this NCAA tournament more confidently than any of the previous five. They have assumed a favored role, a role reassured by the No. 7 seeding.
"I think it should give us confidence," Trigg-Smith said. "They value us that much. They expect us to be one of the final elite eight. They expect us to win."
With a win tonight, they’d take on a team that they’re more familiar with. The Tigers beat both Villanova (1-0) and Yale (3-0) in September and like the idea of playing teams that they’ve beaten before.
"I think it’s good," Trigg-Smith said. "It shows us we beat them once this season, why shouldn’t we be able to beat them again? But we can’t be complacent. They’re just as good as when we played them. Anything can happen. We have to make sure we come out 100 percent."
Trigg-Smith is used to 100 percent, on and off the field. On the field, she’s been a top defender for the Tigers since arriving as a freshman from Kailua, Hawaii. Defense will be a key factor in how far Princeton advances in the NCAAs. They’ve never won two games in an NCAA postseason appearance.
"We’ve always talked about is defense is what got us here," Shackford said. "It’s always the refocus point. I think it’s definitely more important.
"Offensively, every game, we’re creating a ton of opportunities. I don’t think we’ve had fewer than 20 shots in any game. Overall, we’ve been generating and finishing."
Off the field, Trigg-Smith was honored for the second straight year as an Academic All-Ivy performer. She’ll be sure to attend her final class today before taking the field to take on Central Connecticut State. It’s a game in which she expects to play a big role.
"Personally because I am a defender," Trigg-Smith said, "I feel there is a lot of pressure on the defense. It’s been proven you can play an incredible game and one mistake can mean the game. It’s going to be close. Everyone’s mentality will make it hard to break down our defense.
"The atmosphere we play in every day in practice (helps). Every day we come out and it’s fun. It makes playing that much easier. It doesn’t feel like the season has gone on forever. I was just thinking that it seems like it’s flown by."
The season began earlier than most with a trip overseas to Germany. Then came the usual preseason. It stretched through the winningest Ivy year in school history and a record-setting regular season. It’s been a long year already, but there’s an entire half a season left to go.
"We’ve proven we can play at that higher level," Trigg Smith said. "We’ve had some tough games like Texas A&M, and we’ve risen to that competition. I think we have met some of our expectations, but we still have more to meet."