Heading into this Saturday’s home match-up against Princeton (7-5-3, 5-2-0 Ivy), women’s soccer (9-3-4, 3-2-2) had a chance to secure the Ivy League regular season title. But after losing to the Tigers 1-2, the Bears fell to fourth in the conference — just barely qualifying for the Ivy League Tournament set to take place later this week.
Despite dropping their senior day matchup, Bruno will soon have a shot at redemption: On Thursday, the Bears will take on the Tigers again in the Ivy tournament semifinals.
“It was a tough result to swallow today,” Head Coach Kia McNeill said in a post-match interview with Brown Athletics. “I really feel for the team because we didn’t get the result we wanted, even though the effort was there.”
Saturday’s game got off to a slow start, with neither team managing to shoot in the first 20 minutes. Although Princeton was first to threaten the goal with a shot in the 21st minute, team captain Naya Cardoza ’26 was there for the block.
From there, the Tigers kept up the pressure. In the 29th minute, a long free kick pushed the ball toward Brown’s goal. Catching Bruno’s defense off guard, Princeton’s Alexandra Barry fired a missile from outside the box to score the first goal of the day.
Joy Okonye ’27 tallied Brown’s first shot of the match, sending the ball to the top right corner of the goal, just barely missing wide.
But the Bears weren’t discouraged by the 0-1 deficit. Just 30 seconds later, Joy Okonye ’27 tallied Brown’s first shot of the match. From outside the left corner of the box, she sent the ball to the top right corner of the goal, just barely missing wide.
Maintaining pressure, Brown tallied 2 more shots over the next 7 minutes. Unfortunately, Bruno struggled to make good from the attempts: One was aimed too high, and the other was blocked by defenders.
But it didn’t take long for the Bears to find another opportunity to score: On a corner kick, Brooke Birtwistle ’28 sent the ball closer to the Princeton goal, leaving the two teams grappling for possession. Audrey Lam ’27 was the first to rein the ball in, sending it past Princeton’s defensive line into the 6-yard box.
Cardoza kept the ball away from Princeton’s goalkeeper with another header, placing the ball inside the goal area with no one to defend it. Seizing the opportunity, Claire Silverman ’27 placed the ball low into the center of the net, bringing the score to 1-all.
The score marked Silverman’s first career goal with the Bears. But she credited her teammates with the assists, calling it a “good team goal.”
“It felt awesome to score my first goal,” Silverman said in a post-game interview with The Herald. “It’s really rewarding to show up for the team every day and then do something like that.”
Following Silverman’s goal, neither team was able to pull ahead, and the game remained tied going into the break.
“I thought we responded well after going down 1-0,” McNeill said. “Getting the equalizer before halftime showed our character.”
When play resumed in the second half, the Bears pounced first. Crowded by three defenders, Ayla Sahin ’28 sent the ball low toward the center of the goal. But Princeton’s goalie made the save, sustaining the tied game.
Three minutes later, the Tigers converted where the Bears couldn’t. Princeton’s Dylan Jovanovic sent a long kick from the right sideline past Brown’s defense. Reacting quickly, Jovanovic’s teammate Alexandra Barry headed the ball past Brown goalie Addison Etter ’29 to push Princeton’s advantage to 2-1.
But once again, Brown launched an offensive in hopes of evening the score.
When play resumed in the second half, the Bears pounced first with Ayla Sahin ’28 sending the ball low toward the center of the goal.
With just 7 minutes left in the game, Birtwistle sent a corner kick into the box, where a Cardoza header sent the ball over defenders and toward the top left of the goal. But to the Bears’ dismay, it sailed out just wide of the left post.
Two minutes later, Okonye raced the ball down the left flank and made a pinpoint pass to Sahin, who then shot the ball past the diving Princeton goalie. Yet again, the Bears fell short: The ball curved just outside the right post, and Bruno was no closer to tying the game.
In the final minutes, Princeton ran down the clock and handed Bruno the disappointing loss. With the win, the Tigers’ Ivy record improved to 5-2, securing them the Ivy League title.
“We came out strong to start the second half and were on the front foot, but Princeton scored against the run of play, and that took some of the wind out of our sails,” McNeill said. “Even so, we kept pushing and created chances late, but the ball just didn’t bounce our way today.”
Now, the Bears will have to turn the page and prepare for the Ivy tournament. Less than a week after Saturday’s match-up, they will face the Tigers again at 7 p.m. on Thursday in New Jersey.
According to Silverman, the team hopes “to reset after an unfortunate loss and focus on the next game.”
“It’ll be good for us to regroup and go at it again against them,” McNeill said.
