FOR THE RECORD: Princeton University women’s soccer goalie Natalie Grossi sends the ball upfield in a game earlier this season. Senior star and team co-captain Grossi set an Ivy League record when Princeton blanked Dartmouth 1-0 on October 5, giving her 30 career shutouts for the Tigers. She is the first player in Ivy soccer history, men’s or women’s, to reach that mark. Last Saturday, Grossi made three saves in a losing cause as Princeton fell 1-0 at Brown. The Tigers, who moved to 4-5-2 overall and 1-2 Ivy League with that setback, host Columbia on October 19. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

Kristin Luckenbill was a great goalkeeper who starred for the Dartmouth College women’s soccer team in the late 1990s.

Luckenbill took a 1-0 loss to North Carolina in 1999 with Dartmouth being outshot 34-4 and defending 17 corner kicks. She ended her career with an Ivy League record of 29 shutouts and went on to win an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

Two weeks ago with Luckenbill in attendance, Princeton University star goalie Natalie Grossi staked her claim to greatness, passing Luckenbill in career shutouts to become the Ivy all-time leader with 30 after a 1-0 overtime win at Dartmouth.

In typical Grossi fashion, she deferred credit and reflected more on the win. “Coming off Yale (a 1-0 loss on September 28), obviously we were happy to win,” said Grossi.

“We knew we still had a chance but going forward we have to win every game. My mindset is if I can keep the other team from not scoring, then we have a chance at all times to win the game. That’s what happened. Our defenders did a great job. We had a lot of opportunities so it was really frustrating.Just keeping it zero from our end is giving us a chance with eventually the goal being to win the Ivy League.”

Princeton outshot Dartmouth 21-10 as Grossi became the first player in Ivy history — male or female — to hit the 30 shutout mark.

“It’s a weird record personally,” said Grossi, who made three saves in the historic win.

“Whenever someone says congrats on the record, I don’t know what to say because when someone scores a goal, they scored the goal. A shutout is an entire team’s defending ability so the entire team is on the same page in defending. There are some games where I did very little and got the shutout and I’m thankful for my defenders at the end of the day for putting in the work. I want to see that zero at the end of the day on the scoreboard for our side because it’s a checkmark for us doing our job. I think it’s more of a team award for the past four years that I’ve been here letting in so few goals and having so many shutouts.”

Grossi has been in goal from the first day she arrived. She debuted as a starter against Fordham on August 26, 2016, and made four saves in a 3-1 win. Two days later, she picked up her first shutout while making five saves in a 1-0 win over Villanova. Playing early in her career is one key to earning the record.

“One of the things that Natalie had was the opportunity to come in as a freshman and play,” said Princeton head coach Sean Driscoll, whose tenure began the year before her first season.

“That doesn’t always happen but she earned that right out of her skill set and focus and determination. She earned that right from the beginning and I believe she amassed five or so that first year and then 10 the next two years and she’s at five this year. It’s an incredible level of consistency. I just think in the end, for me, you’re the very best in that specific field in the history of the league and that’s pretty awesome.”

A native of Woodbridge, Ontario, Grossi joined the Tigers after helping her Bradford Eagles club team win the Canadian National Championship and Ontario Cup titles in 2015.

“It was expected that we wouldn’t get scored on,” said Grossi. “If we were, something went wrong. I don’t think much changed, there were different people in front of me. The goal always is to not get scored on. It’s a simple position when you think about it. We did well. My defenders on my club team back home made it easy for me as well.”

She played all but 28 minutes for Princeton that first year and had four shutouts. The year helped her adjust to the college level and gain experience with her back line.

“Coming in, I put the pressure on myself to be playing; I wasn’t promised anything from the coaches,” said Grossi.

They gave everyone an equal opportunity to play. Speaking to my dad before coming in, he said, ‘You know you’re not going to play, right?’ I said, ‘Watch me!’ It was my goal to be starting by the West Virginia game. Coming in, the biggest thing was fitness. We have a no pass, no play policy. The first test was passing the fitness test and then competing at practice, and at the time Kelly Boudreau was the goalie coach and Sean gave me the opportunity to play in our first game of the season. They have had faith in me ever since to take that starting role. I was thankful because at the time we had five goalies on the roster so I didn’t really know where I stood. I worked hard and proved myself and was given the opportunity.”

The next year Grossi snapped the Princeton single-season record with 11 shutouts as the Tigers reached the NCAA tournament quarterfinals as they upset North Carolina before falling to UCLA. The run signified the growth from one year of college soccer to the next.

“You can look at the scores my freshman year and we made a lot of mistakes,” said Grossi.

“A lot of it was self-inflicted; my backs and I weren’t on the same page. That just comes over time. My freshman year was OK. We had a lot of bumps and hiccups along the way. And then my sophomore year is when we made the Elite Eight run. I had my defenders Katie Pratt, Natalie Larkin, Mikaela [Symanovich], Lucy [Rickerson], those back four along with me. They were committed to defend and the whole team was buying in. Going off that, it was maturing in the position and learning how people play and where I have to be. With that, everything has been coming along. I’ve improved a little bit every year.”

Recording another 10 shutouts last year as Princeton won the Ivy title, Grossi has opened the 2019 campaign with five shutouts before Princeton fell to Brown on Saturday, 1-0. Grossi had tried not to think about the record, but her teammates constantly were aware of it.

“I think last year when I was getting close to the Princeton record people kept talking about it,” said Grossi. “After I broke the Princeton record, people just kept talking about the Ivy League record. The pre-game and post-game notes all said she’s this many games away. That’s how I became aware of it.”

Working behind an ever changing defense, Grossi notes that there have been subtle changes each year.

“My sophomore year, Lucy came in and started playing her freshman year and she’s been with me ever since with that starting role,” said Grossi.

“Olivia Sheppard played a little bit her sophomore year and the last two years she’s been with me. And this year we have Maddie Curry, a freshman, who has proved herself. She’s made a starting spot in the back four. It’s been changing every year. We’ve had players like Lucy who’s been consistent and then players like Katie and Natalie Larkin and Kaela who were with me at the beginning and really helped set the tone for the defense moving forward.”

Grossi’s development has been steady. She’s become a better leader in the back each year and is serving as a team co-captain this year, realizing the potential she displayed from the start of her college career.

“Even as a freshman, she had a presence,” said Driscoll, whose team was 4-5-2 overall and 1-2 Ivy heading into a non-conference game against Lehigh slated for October 15 as Ivy play resumes with a home game against Columbia on October 19.

“Technically, she does things really, really well. She’s a shot stopper, she’s good on crosses, she makes good decisions with her feet, her distribution is good. She has a lot of the nuance things that are important being a goalkeeper, but most important she has a presence. That’s an innate sort of thing. You either have it or you don’t. She has tremendous respect across the team because she never makes it about herself. She’s humble. At the same time, she’s extraordinarily professional. When you have those characteristics, that equals the respect you garner from your teammates. She’s also been very durable and healthy. She’s taken some shots in games or some physical blows in games and has still been able to get back on the field. She’s extraordinarily reliable in that sense. I would say all those things put together are what make her unique and special.”

Grossi just focuses on her job but is constantly commending her defense for their importance, relying on the back line to minimize good scoring chances.

“In simple terms, it’s limiting the shots in the 18,” said Grossi. “I’m confident in myself that anything outside the 18, I have a good chance of saving and then just limiting their crosses and set pieces that the other team has. The defenders can make it easy for me by pushing it one way and making the shot kind of predictable with how they defend and approach the ball.”

When the defense does that, Princeton has a lot of faith in Grossi and a lot of belief that they can win. Having a reliable goalie has been critical in winning two of the last three Ivy League titles.

“As a coach, you want peace of mind; you want to know you have two things — a player who can score goals and one who you know will keep you in games,” said Driscoll.

“Natalie has kept us in games. You can look at the UCLA game in 2017, we were battered in the first half and we were only down a couple goals. We brought the game to 2-1 before ultimately losing 3-1. The reality is she kept us in that game and in some of the other results we’ve had — beating North Carolina and Wake Forest as well as last year when we had our backs against the wall at 1-1-1. Out of the chute after she shuts out Dartmouth but didn’t get the win and then we lose to Brown and we’re 1-1-1. The only way we’re going to advance is to get four consecutive wins and not only do we do that, but we pitch four straight shutouts. It goes back to we have a good defensive mentality as a team — you don’t get 30 shutouts as a goalkeeper — without great defenders in front of her. I think the reality is she provides for me a complete solace and peace of mind knowing even if all else fails, she’s still got the ability to come up with something special.”

All those moments have helped to amass quite a record over four years, earning Grossi a special place in the record books with a mark that stands out for longevity, consistency, and excellence.

“There are so many aspects that go into being the best,” said Driscoll. “And that’s what she is — the best in her position in the history of the league.”