Women's Soccer: Unlucky team hopes to convert chances

The women’s soccer team trudges on to Providence, R.I., on Saturday on a quest for its first Ivy League victory, needing an abrupt change in fortunes to have any chance of winning the conference this year. The Tigers (0-2-0 Ivy League, 1-7-1 overall) will look to beat Brown (6-3-1, 1-1-0) on the back of a tough 1-0 loss at Dartmouth, which the Bears defeated in overtime earlier this season.

The Princeton attack has struggled to convert its chances in front of goal this season — the prime reason for its seven losses so far, already one more than the team suffered when it claimed second place in the Ivy League in 2010. Despite dominating possession again in its match against Dartmouth, the team came away frustrated by a fortuitous goal from the opposition.

“We were camped in their half,” sophomore midfielder Gabriella Guzman said. Only a “lucky bounce” during a rare foray into Princeton territory at the end of regular time denied the Tigers a chance to convert their possession and control over the game into a win in overtime.

Haphazard shooting has been the driver of Princeton’s woes so far, but it cannot be for a lack of tactical effort. At times playing in a 4-3-3 formation to put three strikers on the field, the coaching staff has also experimented by playing Guzman, normally a defender or midfielder, in a more forward role this season.

Junior striker Jen Hoy, who led the Tigers in scoring last fall, will certainly be looking to get onto the scoresheet this weekend. Though the Tigers were outshot on aggregate in their first six games this season, they had more shot attempts in each of the three games that followed but could not manage more than a single draw.

Hoy said the team has had “a plethora of opportunities,” but the ball simply hasn’t been slotted away in the back of the net.

Brown is off to a mixed start in conference play, losing at Columbia last week after beating Dartmouth at home. On the other hand, the Bears had a confidence-boosting non-conference season, in contrast to the Tigers. The Bears average two shots per game more than the Tigers and have scored 13 goals this season to the Tigers’ seven while conceding eight to Princeton’s 17.

Moreover, 11 of those 13 goals scored by Brown this season have been after halftime, which suggests that Princeton will have to be on top of its game and mentally focused throughout the 90-minute match to ensure that it does not let the game slip away late, as it did against Dartmouth last weekend.

Advantage Brown? Not quite, according to Guzman and Hoy, who said they believe the team should have won against Dartmouth and still think the team has a shot at the Ivy League title, albeit only by winning every remaining game. Five wins in the last five matches would give Princeton a total of 15 points in the conference, one point more than last season’s league-leading total.

Last year’s match against Brown was a close affair, ending 1-0 in favor of Princeton after a first-half header by senior defender Kalie Bartholomew. The Tigers would undoubtedly take a similar scoreline on Saturday, but the possibility remains that their hard work in training and on the pitch will come to fruition in a tumult of goals after the early-season struggles.

The Tigers play two non-conference games next week before hosting Columbia in their next Ivy League match on Oct. 15.