On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Roberts Stadium, Princeton women’s soccer (9–4 overall, 4–1 Ivy League) triumphed over the Harvard Crimson (5–3–5 overall, 1–3–1 Ivy League) with a dominant 3–1 win.
Coming off of a tight loss to Yale last weekend that broke their undefeated win streak in conference play, the Tigers were hungry for redemption.
From the first blow of the whistle, Princeton looked dominant. In the first 15 minutes of the game, the team had five shots on goal. The Tigers’ midfield was creating consistent opportunities by laying crosses into the box, led by players like senior midfielder Kate Toomey.
Harvard would not let up, however, forcing their way into Princeton’s box early into the game. Sophomore defender Zoe Markesini anchored the Tiger back line, forcing Crimson turnovers and getting the ball to Princeton’s midfield.
Ten minutes into the game, the Tigers earned a free kick outside of Harvard’s box. Behind the ball was senior forward Heather MacNab and junior forward Pietra Tordin, with Tordin taking a shot to the low right corner. Harvard goalkeeper Rhiannon Stewart was up to the challenge though, as she made the save.
Shortly after, Princeton earned another opportunity, coming off of a deep shot from sophomore midfielder Kayla Wong that was again denied by Stewart.
The matchup between the Tordin-Wong duo and Stewart did not end there, though.
With 18 minutes left in the half, Tordin forced a turnover off of a ball played back to Stewart by the Harvard defense. Knocking a short pass to the right, Wong received the ball and tapped it into the back of the net, giving Princeton a 1–0 lead.
From here, Princeton maintained the momentum. The Tiger forwards continued to force turnovers by Harvard’s defense, led by first-year forward Alexandra Barry who entered the game following the first goal.
In the midfield, the game became extremely physical, with both teams drawing fouls. Struggling to breakthrough into the offensive third, Princeton began to take a few shots from afar, with several scoring opportunities from the foot of MacNab.
Saturday was MacNab’s first game back in two weeks after suffering a head injury in the team’s match against Penn.
“My injury against Penn was definitely a really scary moment, and not knowing the severity at first was pretty crushing,” MacNab told The Daily Princetonian. “I’m super lucky that it was the best case scenario under the circumstances. Being a senior, it feels like the clock is really winding down, and you really begin to cherish every single second of the season … so I just felt super grateful to be able to step on the field against Harvard.”
With five minutes left in the half, the Tigers saw a strong offensive opportunity with a ball played in by junior forward Drew Coomans and a volley from Barry that was narrowly guided off target.
Then, two minutes before halftime, Markesini won the ball back from Harvard near midfield, laying a lofted ball to a sprinting Coomans. In her pursuit down the field, Coomans crossed the ball into the box where Barry bodied it into the back of the net.
With the goal, Princeton headed into the break with a 2–0 lead.
The second half began much like the first, with Princeton creating offensive opportunities off the bat.
Six minutes into the half, Wong was fouled in the box off a ball passed by Tordin, deflected off of senior midfielder Lily Bryant, yielding a penalty kick for the Tigers.
In another matchup between Tordin and Harvard’s Stewart, Tordin was able to convert the penalty with a low shot to the bottom left corner of the net. Princeton now led 3–0 over the Crimson on Tordin's fourth goal of the season.
38' left, 2nd half | Princeton 3, Harvard 0
— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) October 19, 2024
Kayla Wong gets tripped up in the 18, Pietra Tordin slides the PK home, and we're up 3-0!
💻: https://t.co/4hO2wXzQLO pic.twitter.com/Vn6kQMsvyU
From here, Harvard was determined to get back into the game. Following Tordin’s goal, the Crimson began to possess the ball in Princeton’s half.
In the 61st minute, Harvard converted an opportunity, as midfielder Aslaug Gunnlaugsdóttir placed the ball in the back of the net off of a diving cross.
From here, Princeton turned the game more defensive, focusing on protecting their lead. The game remained physical, with several Crimson fouls in the following minutes.
For the Tigers, senior goalkeeper Tyler McCamey led Princeton’s defensive efforts and had two saves.
Nearing the end of the game, Princeton began to possess the ball in Harvard’s half, earning shots from Barry and Coomans in the dying minutes.
The Tigers successfully prevented any more breakthroughs from the Crimson, confirming their 3–1 win. With this win, Princeton sealed a bid to the Ivy League Tournament in the coming weeks.
“Right now, we’re looking at every Ivy League game as if it’s our Ivy championship, and continuing with that mindset will give us the competitive edge we seek to perform at our highest level for 90 minutes each game,” MacNabb told the ‘Prince.’
The Tigers will take on University of Maryland-Baltimore County (5–9–1, 1–4–1 America East Conference) away in Maryland this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in their last out of conference matchup.
Lily Pampolina is a staff Sports writer and staff Audience creator at the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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