The women's soccer team routed the Princeton Tigers 4-0 on the road in a rare Ivy League blowout Saturday afternoon. The win kept Bruno (6-3-3 overall, 1-1-1 Ivy) in the race for the Ancient Eight title and all but knocked Princeton out of championship contention. With the victory over Princeton, the Bears surpassed their win total from last season.
Prior to last year's 2-1 victory over the Tigers (4-6-1 overall, 0-3-0 Ivy) in Providence, Brown had not defeated Princeton since 1997. Head Coach Phil Pincince, in his 30th season at the helm, is always mindful of the Bears' recent history, but even he struggled to recall Brown unleashing such a Tiger trouncing.
"If I could put my finger on it, boy I would be pressing that button all the time," Pincince said. "I can't tell you the last time - against a Princeton team - that we've had a score like that."
Last weekend, Pincince said teams were not going to give co-captain Kathryn Moos '07, midfielder Jill Mansfield '07 and forward Lindsay Cunningham '09 a lot of breathing room. After the trio combined for four goals and three assists on Saturday, Pincince said, "I'm going to say that again."
Moos and Mansfield took turns pummeling the Tigers with assistance from Cunningham. Just 5:51 into the game, Cunningham found Moos with a cross from the left side of the 18-yard-box, and Moos buried the shot into the back of the net. The score was Moos' team-leading seventh of the season, and with five games left to play the co-captain already has more goals than the team's leading scorer, Cunningham, who finished with six last season.
Just under 20 minutes later, it was Mansfield's turn to get in on the action. The senior midfielder read a ball off the head of center midfielder Bridget Ballard '10, took Princeton goalkeeper Maren Dale one-on-one and beat her to make the score 2-0. The unassisted goal was her third of the season.
Moos and Mansfield continued the onslaught and put the game out of reach before halftime. Moos capitalized on an empty-netter when Dale got caught out of position at 31:58. Cunningham received her sixth assist of the year on the play, tying her for the team lead with Mansfield.
After scoring her second goal of the game, Moos padded her lead in the Ivy scoring race with her 20th point just before the end of the first half. Moos set Mansfield up with a cross at 41:47, and Mansfield finished it for her fourth goal of the season and third in the last two games. "I'm trying to be a little more aggressive in terms of running into the (other team's) backs versus just standing and waiting to see what happens," Mansfield said.
"I think they're taking on a role that you would expect from senior leadership," Pincince said of Moos and Mansfield. "Both had a great game, but remember it's not just about individual players - it's about team play. We had some great chances and we were able to finish."
Coasting with a 4-0 lead, the Bears were wary of a Tiger trap. Mansfield tried to stay grounded after the team's big first stanza. "We knew after the first half ... that they were going to come out extra hard in the second half," she said.
Pincince also knew that Princeton would be looking for a quick goal to gain some momentum. "The opening 10 minutes of the second half were critical." he said. "Once we started the second half we were able to keep the pressure. We were in their end and all of a sudden there's only 35 minutes left."
Pincince said he liked how the team continued to generate scoring opportunities even if it did not extend its lead even further. Alex Michael '09 - a catalyst in the win over the United States Military Academy - took a hard shot that just sailed over the cross-bar, and co-captain Kathleen Waddell '07 missed just wide in the closing minutes.
Overall, the Bears out-shot Princeton 12-5. Goalkeeper Brenna Hogue '10 made three saves en route to her fourth shutout of the season.
"I thought we played a full 90 minutes," Pincince said. "Not only was the first half impressive scoring four goals ... but also to get a shutout in the second half was quite a strong performance."
After the four-goal barrage, the Bears have now scored 23 goals on the season with five games - four Ivy - left to play. Last year the team scored 20 in the entire season. Mansfield attributed the higher goal totals to the team's 4-4-2 system, which allows the outside midfielders to be more aggressive on offense. "And we have a strong center midfield," Mansfield said of Ballard and Mollie Mattuchio '08, "that can contribute offensively."
Brown's defense has also benefited from the new system. The Bears' "flat-four" has allowed only 11 goals in 12 games and never more than two in the same contest. "It's consistent," said center-back Kerrilynn Carney '08. "It's nice to have a system that works every game against any team."
The Bears moved into fifth place in the Ivy League, while the winless Tigers share seventh with Cornell. A win over Harvard on Friday at 7 p.m. at Stevenson Field would leapfrog the Bears over the Crimson (2-1-0 Ivy League) in the Ancient Eight.
"We needed the win against Princeton," Carney said. "It was definitely a turning point in our season. We need to keep heading in that direction."
