Women's Soccer: Slumping team looks to stop slide at Dartmouth

The women’s soccer team will continue Ivy League play this weekend, traveling to Dartmouth for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday. The Tigers (1-6-1 overall, 0-1 Ivy League), coming off a tough 2-0 conference loss to Yale last Saturday, will try to even their conference record on the road. The Big Green (2-7-0, 0-1) suffered an overtime defeat to Brown in its first Ivy League game last weekend.

Though the Tigers prepared for this week’s game in the shadow of a tough loss, junior defender and co-captain Alison Nabatoff said she believes that the team can turn things around. “All around, we are pretty upset at the outcome, but we also know that it’s only the first game of the Ivy season,” she said. “A team rarely goes undefeated in the league, so we are still confident that we have a chance to turn everything around and have a successful year.”

Thanks to a difficult early schedule and an offense that has been shut out six times in nine games, Dartmouth has opened the season with a disappointing record. One of the Big Green’s impact players is sophomore midfielder Chrissy Lozier, a 2010 second-team All-Ivy selection, who led the offense with five shots in its Ivy League opener. Senior forward Aly O’Dea has also been a weapon on offense with three shots against Brown and an assist on Dartmouth’s only goal against Colgate the game before.

“Dartmouth is definitely going to be a challenge for us, as all Ivy League games are,” Nabatoff said. “With that said, though, we have a full week of practice to prepare, and we will be ready to compete. Especially off of the loss to Yale, I think we are excited to prove ourselves in the league.”

Nabatoff, who was named second-team All-Ivy in her sophomore season, suffered a significant injury in the offseason and got into her first game action of 2011 last weekend against Yale.

“I’m hoping to get myself back to playing the way I was before getting injured last season,” she said. “I’m also really just focused on doing all I can to help the team win, whatever that may entail.”

The Tigers’ offense has struggled to score, netting only two goals in the last four games, including three shutouts. Standout sophomore defensive midfielder Gabriella Guzman, who attempted an unsuccessful shot against Yale, said the offense has worked hard.

“This week, our practices [were] much more intense,” she said. “We are really focusing on competing, playing with desire and finishing to the goal. We believe that the way you practice is the way you play in games.”

Senior co-captain and midfielder Sara Chehrehsa also said the offense needs to improve. “The offense’s goal this week is to score, plain and simple,” she said. “We have been outshooting our opponents, and it’s time to start putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Princeton’s defense played well for most of last week’s game, but the Tigers were doomed by two goals in a 36-second span of the second half. “We have given up a few goals as a result of defensive organizational lapses, so the defense [focused] on organization as a unit this week,” Nabatoff said. “This should help us fix some of the issues we’ve had in the first half of the season.”

“League games are really special — every game is a battle, and it is all about who wants it more,” Guzman said. “We know we have to come out strong and play with heart for the total 90 minutes. This is an opportunity for us to get back on track.”