Rutgers women’s soccer (2-1-2) visited Princeton (2-0-1) on Thursday night and the result was a scoreless draw. The in-state battle Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium produced a combined 27 shots but neither team could break through. Rutgers redshirt freshman goalkeeper Olivia Bodmer made a career-high seven saves in just her fifth career start.
Princeton held a 17-10 shot advantage and 7-5 edge with shots on goal. The Tigers also had six corners while Rutgers failed to have any.
Despite the Scarlet Knights having less chances, they had several opportunities to win the game in the 88th minute. Riley Tiernan put a shot on goal that was saved by a diving Tyler McCamey, the Princeton Goalkeeper. RU leading scorer Allison Lowrey had a shot on goal off the rebound but it was saved by a Princeton defender. Lowrey was able to get the ball back and sent another shot across the box that just sailed left of the post. It was a valiant effort that fell short.
Tiernan produced one more chance in the final minute. She penetrated on the endline and sent a well placed cross into the box in front of the goal. Sam Kroeger just missed connecting on the game winner.
With the final seconds ticking away, Tiernan skillfully dribbled toward the Princeton endline and played a rolling cross right across the goalmouth, just an agonizing foot away from a streaking Sam Kroeger, who was barely tardy for a dramatic game-winner.
Rutgers is now 18-9-5 all-time against Princeton.
The Scarlet Knights will next host No. 14 Georgetown (3-0-1) on Monday, September 4 at 1 p.m. at Yurcak Field. It’s a crucial opportunity for Rutgers in non-conference play as they are looking for its first signature win of the season.
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Henry Rutgers
September 1, 2023 at 8:21 am
First, I have to assume Daigle was injured and unavailable. This was her kind of game. She’s the midfield enforcer. Princeton made it clear from the opening whistle that they were not going to be beaten to the ball, didn’t care about RU’s possession time because on the few occasions RU had the ball it resulted in a bad trap, bad pass or some other turnover. Princeton was going to win every uncontested and contested ball on the ground and in the air. The entire first half was played in the RU defensive half of the field with no RU shots or corner kicks. It was something of a miracle PU didn’t end the half up by at least two. It does, however, appear we’ve improved on defending corner kicks. I said Princeton would tell us a lot about the character and quality of the team. I did. We have a good team but not an elite team.
There is no miracle on the horizon. Lowry isn’t going to get any faster. Viccaro isn’t going to get better at trapping, distributing or scoring. Kroeger will get back to her old form and help. Hopefully, Banks was not too severely injured and is available to play soon. She went down hard with what looked like a lower leg injury. Her play has been stellar.
For the first five minutes of the second half the team moved well, fought for open balls but then lapsed back into containment rather than challenges. Princeton played a hard, physical game. If anyone should be upset its them. They were the better team. RU came alive in the last five minutes on the back of Tiernan. From where we were sitting it looked like she was willing to pick the team up on her shoulders and carry them forward. She almost did.
Back to PU this evening. Hopefully the men do better.
Biochemist01
September 1, 2023 at 10:11 am
The team got thoroughly outplayed by Princeton, especially in the 1st half. Bodmer absolutely stole 2 goals away from Princeton. She was outstanding. Princeton played harder and contested every ball. Rutgers did not retain possession well and they passed poorly. It is going to be a long season.
pj43
September 1, 2023 at 1:53 pm
I’ll yield to the two comments above, In particular, “The team got thoroughly outplayed by Princeton” Biochemist01
“We have a good team but not an elite team.”Henry Rutgers. We’ll find out how good in Big Ten conference play.