Senior scores game-winning goal against Brown women
By: Justin Feil
Julie Shaner was a Princeton University women’s soccer tri-captains a year ago. She’s one again as a senior this year, but there is a definite difference.
"The difference," Shaner said, "is for me I feel more urgency. I don’t have that next year. Last year, I didn’t get that feeling no matter how much people talked about it. Every game this year is huge for me."
Shaner, a first-team All-Ivy midfielder a year ago, had maybe her biggest game of this year, and biggest goal of the season when she scored 25 minutes into Friday’s matchup against previously unbeaten Brown to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead that stood up for a win.
"She’s been playing well," said PU head coach Julie Shackford. "The amount of ground she covers sometimes just exhausts her. She’s the engine of our team. She’s vital to solidifying the midfield. She’s a creator more than a goal scorer."
Shaner’s first goal of the Ivy season was the first score the Bears had given up in more than 515 minutes of action, but it was the second game-winning goal Shaner has scored against Brown in the past two seasons.
"I guess I’ve been pretty lucky against them," said Shaner, who scored the second goal last season in Providence in a 2-1 win. "Any Ivy game I like to get psyched up for, especially since they were the other undefeated team and they had that scoring record. In the past, we had never played a good game against them. Friday we had a good team effort against them."
Sunday, Princeton improved its record to 10-2 with a 1-0 win over Boston University on a goal from Kelly Sosa. The Tigers were happy to win after putting a tiring effort into the Brown game that helped PU move into sole possession of first place in the Ivy League at 4-0.
Brown, which was ranked 20th in the country by Soccer America, had already knocked off defending Ivy champion Harvard to add to the magnitude of Friday’s game. Now having defeated one determined challenger, Princeton will look to stay unbeaten in Ivy play when it hosts the Crimson 7 p.m. Friday at Lourie-Love Field.
"I don’t want to blow it out of proportion," Shackford said. "We want to go out and treat it no differently from any other game. Last year, I think we outplayed them. I don’t think we felt like we slipped at all."
"It’s going to be a game like the one last year," added Shaner of the 1-0 loss at Harvard last season. "It’s going to be really competitive. It’s a battle of skilled teams. They’re not as physical and direct as Brown was, or Columbia. We’re like that also so it’s going to be a tough game. The nice thing is we get all our big games at home this year."
Shaner will have plenty more games this year regardless of the soccer team’s postseason. She is a two-time All-America in lacrosse for the Tigers and is expected to be a force again this spring. Shaner likes soccer and lacrosse equally and has tentative plans to stay active as a coach. A change her body could welcome after this year.
"I’m starting to feel old this year," Shaner admitted. "I just get more bruises after the games. I think I know at the end of last year I was tired and burnt out. It’s hard to go three years and not get a break. Coming into senior year, I know I have to make the most of it. It’s keeping me going."
There won’t be many games left regardless in Shaner’s soccer career. Having hosted Dartmouth and Brown already, Shaner and her teammates are set to see Harvard and, on Nov. 4, Penn come to Princeton. It’s important that the Tigers maintain the momentum they’ve built, particularly because they find themselves in a situation much like last year going into the Harvard game.
Last season, Princeton had not lost an Ivy match before dropping the Harvard game. After two wins, they then lost to Penn to seemingly vanquish any chance of making the NCAA tournament. But an at-large bid saved them. This season, PU is determined not to sweat out the final days of the season.
"We definitely are trying to keep the Ivy bid and the regional bid open," Shaner said. "We want that Ivy League one. This team is more focused. This year, we’re taking each day and each game as one step. Harvard is that big game you want to win. We’ve come so close. We know it can be done. This year we’re confident we have the team that can beat them."
It won’t be easy. Princeton’s women’s soccer team has never beaten Harvard, or Penn for that matter, in Shaner’s three previous seasons. Winning in her last try would ease a lot of that pain. But beating Harvard and Penn will require some strong convincing on Shaner’s part.
"This year especially we have tried to make everyone feel this urgency," she said. "We want them to feel like you can’t always wait until next season. We have great team chemistry, and we have so much talent. We’re saying, ‘Don’t waste this season.’ That’s the message we’re trying to get to the underclassmen.
"We’re all so hungry this year. The success last year helped us. Then this year, knowing we’re so much better and seeing this year’s record and knowing how well we’ve done, that helps us think we’ll do even better."