ATTACKING POSITION: Princeton University women’s soccer player Mimi Asom establishes position in a game earlier this season. Sophomore Asom came up big last week, scoring the lone goal for Princeton in a 1-1 tie against Bucknell on October 25 and then notching three tallies in a 6-1 win at Cornell last Saturday. She was later named the Ivy League Player of the Week for her production. Princeton, now 10-4-2 and 2-3-1 Ivy League, concludes regular season play by hosting Penn on November 5. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Coming into its game last week against visiting Bucknell, the Princeton University women’s soccer team was a frustrated bunch.

After Mimi Asom scored a goal early in the second half in a 2-1 loss to Brown on October 8, the Tigers were held scoreless in their next two games, falling 2-0 at Columbia and 1-0 to Harvard despite outshooting the Lions 16-9 and the Crimson 16-5.

As Tiger sophomore star Asom and her teammates took the field for their October 25 contest against a Bucknell team that had lost only one game all season, they were determined to get back on the right track.

“We were just looking to turn our luck around a little bit, we have had a couple of rough games and we were just trying to get back into it,” said Asom.

“We have to be more efficient in front of goal. We have had games where we are taking 16 shots and not scoring any. That is just not good enough.”

Finding itself trailing the Bison 1-0 at halftime, the frustration mounted for Tigers at halftime.

“We were talking to each other, we were sick of it,” recalled Asom. “We have gone down 1-0 quite a few times in the last couple of weeks and it was just the idea of turning it around.”

Asom got things turned around for the Tigers, finding the back of the net at the 70:59 mark as she fired a shot just inside the post, a goal that gave the Tigers a 1-1 tie with the Bison as neither team scored again through regulation and 20 minutes of overtime.

“I am normally a center forward, but I played wide today,” said Asom, a native of Dallas, Texas.

“The message was to come in and take care of opportunities so that is what I did.”

Last Saturday at Cornell, Asom took advantage of her opportunities, scoring three goals as the Tigers routed the Big Red 6-1 win over Cornell, earning her Ivy League Player of the Week honors in the process.

In the view of Princeton head coach Sean Driscoll, it was critical for the Tigers to find the back of the net against Bucknell.

“The mindset was to try to get back on track in terms of scoring goals,” said Driscoll.

“We have been struggling to do so. I think we have played very well in the last several games, which sounds crazy.”

Driscoll was happy to see that struggle end with Asom’s tally against Bucknell.

“We certainly deserved a goal after all of the work that we put in in that second half,” said Driscoll. “You hope that starts to propel us.”

With Asom propelling Princeton in the rout of Cornell, Driscoll is looking for his team to keep working hard as it hosts Penn in its regular season finale on November 5.

“We need to continue the best we can, we have to play for pride,” said Driscoll, whose squad improved to 10-4-2 overall and 2-3-1 Ivy with the win over Cornell.

“We are still trying to compete for some sort of standing in the Ivy League and try to finish as high as we can. That is the goal, to end on a high.”

With Princeton clinging to hopes of getting at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, Asom and her teammates are going to keep firing away.

“It is not over until it is over so we are are going to do our best and try to keep winning,” said Asom, who now has nine goals for the season.