SCARLET FEVER: Princeton University women’s soccer player Alessia Azermadhi, left, battles Samantha Valliant of Rutgers for the ball in action last Friday evening. Freshman midfielder Azermadhi played well in her college debut as Princeton fell 5-0 to the Scarlet Knights in its season opener. On Monday, the Tigers moved to 0-1-1 as they battled Seton Hall to a scoreless draw through two overtimes. Princeton will look to get into the win column as it plays at LaSalle on September 12 and hosts Villanova on September 14 (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Julie Shackford knew that her Princeton University women’s soccer team faced a major challenge as it hosted Rutgers last Friday evening in its season opener.

Rutgers came into Roberts Stadium with three games under its belt and a sparkling 3-0 record while Princeton had been practicing for just two weeks.

“You are playing a team that has been in camp since July 30th,” said Princeton head coach Shackford.

“It is very hard. I always struggle with this, do you play a pansy in the first game instead. I still think at the end of the day that a game like that will help us down the road.”

It turned out to be a hard evening for the Tigers as they saw a 1-0 halftime deficit deteriorate into a 5-0 loss.

“I thought we did well in the first half,” said Shackford, whose squad matched Rutger in shots at 5-5 over the first 45 minutes of the contest, generating some good chances including a Tyler Lussi volley that hit the crossbar.

“I think there is still a lot of inexperience on the field for us. There is no question that we are not game fit and so then it is trying to suss out how much of it is real soccer breakdowns or how much of it is the fatigue.”

Princeton got some good soccer from its trio of freshman starters, midfielders Vanessa Gregoire and Alessia Azermahdi along with defender Natalie Larkin.

“They did well,” said Shackford. “I thought Alessia played well. I thought Alessia, from a defensive perspective, did a lot of dirty work for us.”

Taking a long-term perspective, Shackford believes taking lumps against Rutgers will help Princeton later in the fall.

“I still think at the end of the day that it is a good first test, it is a starting point,” said Shackford.

“We have a lot of things to work out. I think on the day we lost to a very good team and we just have to learn from it going forward. Ultimately our goal is to put ourselves in position to win the league and so how does this step prepare us for that.”

On Monday, Princeton showed progress as it battled Seton Hall to a scoreless draw through two overtimes, achieving the main goals Shackford set coming out of the Rutgers game.

“I just want us to be a little bit more organized defensively and a little bit more active up top,” said Shackford, whose team outshot the Pirates 16-6 and will hope for even more improvement as Princeton plays at LaSalle on September 12 before hosting Villanova on September 14.