For the women’s soccer team, there is much more at stake on Saturday than a long-standing rivalry with Princeton.
In their final match of the season, the first-place Quakers (9-6-1, 4-1-1 Ivy) will take on second-place Princeton in a high stakes match. To the victor goes the Ivy League championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Both teams will enter with a bit of momentum — Penn’s 3-2 overtime win against Brown last weekend put the Quakers in the top spot in the Ancient Eight.
But the Tigers (9-6-0, 4-2-0) had an overtime victory of their own over Cornell to end a two-game losing streak.
Coach Darren Ambrose said he plans to stick with the same strategy that has been working for Penn all season, focusing on defending against set pieces and marking the Tigers’ players tightly.
“[Princeton’s] a good team,” Ambrose said. “They’ve got a couple of special players just like we’ve got … there’s obviously a lot at stake. We go into the game, we focus on us … and try to do what we do well.”
The last time the Quakers won the Ivy title was in 2007, when all four of the team’s seniors were freshmen.
Earlier this week, senior Sarah Friedman was named Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Three years after winning the Ivy title, she sees a difference in her approach to the title match.
“This could be the last game I play in college, so I have to play my heart out,” Friedman said.
The midfielder, who currently leads the conference with eight assists, will be pitted against Princeton’s Caitlin Blosser, who falls right behind her with seven assists this season.
The Red and Blue also appear to have a slight defensive advantage. Junior Caroline Williams has played nearly every minute in goal this season with a goals against average of 0.94, while Princeton keeper Kristin Watson has played in the last 15 games with a slightly higher GAA of 1.09.
“You don’t go into a game really as a favorite,” Ambrose said. “We’re proud of where we are, [but] we’ve still got ways to go.”
“We’re playing to win,” senior Kaitlin Kaiser said. “We’re going into it full force.”
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