SPECIAL K: Princeton University women’s soccer player Kayla Wong, right, defends a foe in a game last fall. Last Saturday, sophomore midfielder Wong picked up an assist and helped key a strong defensive effort as Princeton defeated Miami 1-0 in its season opener. The Tigers will look to keep on the winning track when they host Seton Hall on August 29. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

If Saturday’s season opener is any indication, it could be a very good — albeit unpredictable — season for the Princeton University women’s soccer team.

The Tigers used players in different spots than they’d been accustomed to in the past, were missing two stars to begin with, got thinner with a key injury minutes into the game, didn’t possess the ball the way they would like to, and yet still posted a 1-0 win over a visiting Miami team that had two games under its belt and unveiled a new style that took Princeton by surprise.

“For sure it was a little resilience there for the players,” said Princeton head coach Sean Driscoll, reflecting on the opening day triumph. “There’s a lot of different names in different places, and so we’re a little bit unpredictable right now and I think getting ready to play us would probably be uncomfortable because we’re so unpredictable and as a coach, sometimes you just don’t know yet exactly what everyone is going to do and that’s kind of exciting. At the same time, it’s nerve-wracking.”

The Tigers opened Driscoll’s 10th season at the helm as unsure of what to expect against Miami as any opening game of his career. Princeton graduated a terrific senior class last year, and were missing defender Zoe Markesini and forward Pietra Tordin, last year’s leading scorer, due to the Women’s U-20 World Cup for as long as their teams from Canada and United States, respectively, stay alive.

Scoring is always a concern for any soccer team, and the loss of Tordin was exacerbated when Drew Coomans, a second-team all-Ivy League selection last year, was lost to a concussion less than five minutes into a contest, that despite Miami’s prior experience, Princeton came out flying, buoyed by a raucous crowd at Roberts Stadium.

“That really changed a lot after the first five minutes,” said Driscoll. “We looked really good, then she gets injured and we have to move players around. Drew’s a special player. It’s very hard to replace that and then when you do that, you have to move some people into different places than we had originally expected. So that kind of just set us back a little bit.”

It also opened the door for others to step up, something that will be a theme for the Tigers this year if they are to be as good as they can be. Senior goalie Tyler McCamey earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week by making five saves for her 11th career shutout and giving Princeton the chance to win it at the other end as the last line of a rebuilt defense.

“Getting Ryann Brown back after a year was huge for us because, other than Kiley [Hamou], she’s the most seasoned in the back,” said Driscoll. “Both Esme [Rudell] and Kelsee [Wozniak], for their first time back there in a regular season game did very well.”

Princeton had to sort itself out a bit more after Coomans’ injury. They juggled spots, eventually even having to sub Hamou due to leg cramps, and all the while trying to counter Miami’s new approach after they lost their first two games. Miami outshot Princeton, 6-4, in the first half, and they finished the game with a 5-1 edge in corner kicks.

“They made some very good decisions on how to approach us,” said Driscoll. “It made life difficult, there’s no doubt, and Tyler made some good saves and we made some good blocks. We kept ourselves in the game and then we started to grow a little bit more in the second half.”

The game-winner came with about 26 minutes left on a beautiful combination from the Tigers. Wozniak played a ball up the right sideline to Kayla Wong. The sophomore midfielder sent a squaring pass to Pia Beaulieu, a key reserve with 48 big minutes in the game, who tapped it back to Wong as she overlapped. Wong laid a pass through to a streaking Isabella Garces, another player who came off the bench, who poked in her first career goal.

“Ultimately, I think the best teams are the ones that share the story so they’re not focusing on that one individual and shutting them down,” said Driscoll. “If there is a benefit of not having a top goal scorer around, it’s that other people can show what they’re capable of doing and Bella ended her spring season really well with a hat trick and she started up where she left off and got a really good goal. It was a tremendous finish.”

The pass from Wong, though, was just as remarkable. Wong ended up playing 84 minutes in the win, 11 more than she did in any game last year as a freshman, and showed why it could be tough to take her off the field when she slotted the pass perfectly to lead Garces to the goal.

“Kayla played, as I said to the team, as good a pass as you could ever see,” said Driscoll. “One of the best passes I’ve seen in my 10 years here.”

It’s that sort of play that is why she will have plenty of minutes on the field this season. A playmaker like Wong can create more scoring opportunities, just as happened Saturday, for any number of finishers. Princeton is looking to find out who can reliably score goals this season.

“Kayla often assists, and it came off another pass from Pia,” said Driscoll. “Kayla’s vision is spectacular. I think that we have a number of players that can score goals and I do believe there’s a number of kids who can do that throughout the team, so for me I would like to be that team where no team can key on one individual player and for the first couple of weeks that’s going to be the reality of it.”

Princeton will be home again in its second game of the season on August 29, when it hosts in-state foe Seton Hall. The Pirates come in 2-1-1 led by last year’s Big East Offensive Player of the Year, Natalie Tavana.

“We’re going to do a good job negating her, that’s number one,” said Driscoll. “And then we’ll have to be up for it because it’s a New Jersey battle, like when we play Rutgers or Monmouth or Rider, there’s a little extra there. I know they’ll be up for it and excited. I expect some of the similar situation, some similar things to what we just endured in that last game, and the physical duels. We won a lot of balls in the air. We have to do the same thing and we also have to do a good job of getting our midfielders on the ball.”

Miami sent four players at Princeton’s three midfielders to neutralize the Tigers’ preferred way of advancing the ball upfield. The Tigers were caught at times playing the less precision long-ball game, of which Miami did some of the same. Now they take on a Seton Hall team on the rise with a proven offensive threat and a blue collar approach to the game.

“You’re going to have to find ways to make teams play the way you want them to, and not vice versa,” said Driscoll. “Anytime you fall into the trap of doing what the other team is doing, you’re basically playing your opponent the way they want to play the game, and that’s not at all what you want. But I’m curious to see what we do.”

Princeton will be working to defend its home turf again. Starting the year off with a non-conference win could have big ramifications at the end of the season as the Tigers look to again host an NCAA tournament game.

“It’s huge, if you look across the NCAA every day, what you’re guaranteed of on any given day is upsets, the head scratchers,” said Driscoll. “You look and say, ‘How did that happen?’ I think we said to the team at the end of the game, a win is a win and you always appreciate a win because they’re really, really difficult. And the moment you realize really how difficult is that moment you lose the game. So when you do have those moments you need to be grateful that you had the opportunity to get a win and never take it for granted.”

And especially with any number of things not going the way Princeton expected, and so many unknowns already, the Tigers will be trying to build on their opening win. There’s no resting on one good result.

“We got the win, but we also know we have work to do to get better,” said Driscoll. “And so that’s the best kind of win – the one that kind of highlights areas that require improvement but at the same time you get the result and so I think that for us is really good. It just gives us some time now to prepare for the next thing, and then I’m sure once we play Seton Hall we’ll learn a bit more about us, things that we’re doing well, things we need to improve upon and that will help shape us for Penn State, and then so on and so forth.”

It’s very early, but Driscoll sees a team that is hungry to improve, and to prove themselves. They are working hard in practice, they are asking for more film study to see where they can develop, and they are competing for minutes and the opportunity to shine while helping the Tigers to win.

“I’m excited to see what they do,” said Driscoll. “I had such a pulse on the team last year. It’s a little bit different now. It’s just it’s more exciting than anything else because we’re waiting every game to see how much we’ve improved and who steps up and that’s the reality. Every game someone’s going to step up and be a star every game without fail. It’s just who’s that going to be? And I think in some respects it’s nice to not know ahead of time exactly who that’s going to be and for us the (Saturday) night we had so many contributors, some returners and some new ones. That’s the fun part of coaching.”