On Saturday afternoon, the top-seeded Princeton women’s soccer team (13–4, 6–1 Ivy League) hosted the fourth-seeded Harvard Crimson (7–4–5, 3–3–1) in the semifinal of the Ivy League Tournament. These two teams — no strangers to competition — met in the first round of the Ivy League Tournament for the second year in a row with a trip to the finals against Brown (7–4–6, 3–2–2) on the line. With their season hanging in the balance, the Tigers put together a dominant performance in a 3–1 win at Roberts Stadium.
“I thought our mentality was really good, I thought we kept the ball well — that’s what we focused on this week,” Driscoll told The Daily Princetonian. “It’s obviously a lot of pressure to play in a win or go home game, so I was really happy with their mentality and composure.”
Compared to last year, when Harvard knocked Princeton out of the tournament in the opening round, the Tiger squad is stronger on almost every front, boasting improved conference and overall records and featuring eight players who received all-Ivy recognition for their efforts this season. Princeton’s ferocious attack has averaged three goals per game in conference play and looked to stay hot against Harvard.
Capitalizing on a lineup that has delivered them success down the stretch, the Tigers trotted out the same squad from their 3–1 victory against Harvard earlier this year.
The Tigers started on the front foot, holding possession for much of the opening ten minutes. Princeton sent repeated crosses into the box, but Harvard goalkeeper Rhiannon Stewart was assertive in shutting down each opportunity before it fully developed.
In the fourteenth minute, pressure from junior forward Drew Coomans led to a dramatic misplay by Stewart. Holding the ball for too long, her pass was cut off by Coomans, who controlled it and repeatedly attempted to find her way around Stewart and get a clean look at an empty net.
Stewart, along with Harvard defender Josefine Hasbo, managed to close the angle and shut down the chance. Just three minutes later, star junior forward Pietra Tordin beat two defenders and created a similar chance, with a loose ball just barely blocked by Stewart.
Tordin, the newly crowned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, was uncontainable throughout the first half, slipping past defender after defender. In the 22nd minute, she sent the crowd at Roberts Stadium into a frenzy when she nutmegged Harvard’s right back along the goal line. Closing in on the net, she was brought down from behind by an errant challenge from the defender she’d just beat. To the shock of the striker, defender, and everyone else in the stadium, no whistle sounded as Harvard cleared the ball away.
However, a brief video check confirmed what was obvious to almost all who watched: The Crimson had committed a foul. Princeton was consequently awarded a penalty kick. In yet another matchup between Tordin and Stewart, the U.S. international star tucked the ball under a diving Stewart and into the bottom left corner for a 1–0 lead.
23' left, 1st half | Princeton 1, Harvard 0
— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) November 8, 2024
Pietra Tordin gets tripped up going to goal in the 18, and Pietra Tordin buries the PK! Tigers score first!
💻: https://t.co/zbJ22B9MYe pic.twitter.com/tinVSlpTzU
Just minutes into the second half, Tiger lightning struck again. After a solid move from sophomore midfielder Kayla Wong, Coomans received the ball near the end line. She lofted a cross through the box, over Stewart, and directly to Tordin, unmarked at the back post. With the chance served to her on a silver platter, she nodded it into the back of the net and sprinted away to celebrate. For Tordin, postseason performance seemed just as natural as regular-season dominance.
40' left, 2nd half | Princeton 2, Harvard 0
— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) November 8, 2024
TORDIN AGAIN! TIGERS UP TWO!
💻: https://t.co/zbJ22B9MYe pic.twitter.com/7VaXjy3CQU
“A lot of my scoring comes from my teammates creating these opportunities for me,” Tordin said. “All I do is make the run and hope it gets to me, and today they did a great job creating it for me.”
In the 68th minute, Wong further padded the score for the Tigers after a stellar effort from Coomans, who pressured Stewart into a tough position outside the box. With Stewart trying to recover, the ball bounced to Wong, who fired it home into an empty net for a commanding 3–0 lead. With just 20 minutes remaining, Head Coach Sean Driscoll moved his team into victory formation by removing Coomans and Tordin for fresh legs.
22' left, 2nd half | Princeton 3, Harvard 0
— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) November 8, 2024
Can’t stop ’em both! Kayla Wong slams home the rebound! 3–0 Tigers!
💻: https://t.co/zbJ22B9MYe pic.twitter.com/PgAeLmDJ1O
Before the final whistle, Harvard managed to pull one back off the foot of Icelandic midfielder Áslaug Gunnlaugsdóttir. Senior goalkeeper Tyler McCamey, largely untested all game, called a quick huddle to calm her teammates down and remind them that they remained in the driver’s seat. They took it to heart and remained calm as they saw the game through and sent Harvard packing.
Asked about the team’s stellar defense, senior captain Heather MacNab — the team’s starting left back — gave praise to the offense.
“Our front line did a fantastic job pressing, and our midfield was all over them,” MacNab told the ‘Prince.’ “That makes it really easy for us to keep our positioning with the best goalkeeper in the country behind us.”
All that remains in the Tigers’ way is Brown on Sunday, Nov. 10. Before this year, Brown had not lost a single regular season Ivy League game since 2018. Though this year’s squad seems slightly diminished, they clearly retained a touch of their old magic with a surprise win over Columbia, a superior team on paper.
“Brown is the four-time defending champion in the Ivy League, and they put up a great fight,” Driscoll said. “They did exactly what they needed to do, and now we have to find a way to get through them to the NCAA tournament.”
If Princeton can defeat Brown, they will summit the mountaintop and return to the NCAA tournament yet again. If not, they may find themselves both trophyless and on the outside looking in, their season cut short with plenty left in the tank.
The stakes could not be higher.
Joe Uglialoro is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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