COMING UP BIG: Princeton University women’s soccer goalie Tyler McCamey dives to make a save in 2023 action. Last Sunday, senior star McCamey recorded seven saves in a losing cause as Princeton fell 1-0 to visiting Georgetown. The Tigers, now 4-2, play at Fairfield on September 18. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Tyler McCamey had a hectic day in her office in goal for the Princeton University women’s soccer team as it hosted Georgetown last Sunday evening.

Senior keeper McCamey recorded seven saves, knocked aside several crosses, and faced a penalty kick as Georgetown put the heat on all game long, outshooting Princeton 13-5 overall and 8-2 in attempts on goal on the way to a hard-earned 1-0 victory.

“It was a little busy, that is the job,” said McCamey, reflecting on her performance as the Tigers dropped to 4-2.

McCamey and her teammates knew they faced a hard job in looking to overcome the Hoyas.

“Georgetown is always a great team, you have to give a lot of credit to their program,” said McCamey. “We have played them the last three years that I have been here and it has always been a great game. We always look forward to them for sure.”

It was a rough start to the game for the Tigers as they got outshot 6-3 in the first half and found themselves trailing 1-0 at intermission after Georgetown converted a penalty kick late in the period.
“We wanted to come out with some more energy, we changed formations,” said McCamey, reflecting on the halftime message. “We wanted to get a hold of the ball and take control of the game. We needed things to start going in our favor a little more. It was how do we make adjustments to make that happen.”

In the second half, McCamey kept the Tigers in the game, making several point blank stops as the Hoyas generated four straight corner kicks in one stretch.

“Fair play to them, they are great on set pieces,” said McCamey, a 5’9 native of Atlanta, Ga. “I thought we defended set pieces really well today. They certainly had their moments, we handled it the best we could.”

McCamey acknowledged that Princeton didn’t come through in some critical moments.

“We had some really good opportunities,” said McCamey. “Kayla Wong hit the post in the first half. Heather McNab puts a great serve in. The opportunities were few and far between but they were there and we didn’t capitalize on them.”

While the defeat stung, McCamey believes the Tigers can learn from the setback as they prepare to play at Fairfield on September 18 and then start Ivy League action by playing at Cornell on September 28.

“It is a tough loss; I think we were in it with them, we were close with it,” said McCamey. “We are going to take the positives and go back to the drawing board and see what we did well and see what we didn’t do well. We will get ready for Fairfield and then get ready for the league.”

McCamey has worked hard to get ready for a big final campaign with the Tigers.

“I think progress happens over a long period of time, it is a long run from freshman year to senior year,” said McCamey, who has posted a microscopic 0.67 goals against average this season with 31 saves in six starts. “Experience is huge. Chris Duggan, my goalkeeper coach, has been awesome. The whole coaching staff has been super supportive. It is just getting in extra reps, doing extra stuff off the field and taking experience and doing what I can with it.”

Serving as a team co-captain along with fellow senior McNab has enhanced the experience for McCamey.

“It means everything to me, this group is just full of leaders and is full of really amazing people,” said McCamey. “Getting to represent them is a huge honor. Any way I can support them and show up for them, that is the job.”

Princeton head coach Sean Driscoll credits McCamey with doing a great job so far this season.

“Tyler is playing as well as she can, she is incredible,” said Driscoll of McCamey. “She is a pro. She has kept us in every game, that is the expectation as a top goalkeeper. We feel really secure with her. I just want to make sure that we return the favor by being more productive in the offensive half.”

Driscoll was frustrated by his squad’s lack of production against Georgetown.

“We didn’t play particularly well in the first half, we have had a real challenge in the first half throughout the season,” said Driscoll. “In most of our games, we have struggles in the first half which is uncharacteristic of us. Partially it is on us and partially it is on what they have done well.”

In the second half, Driscoll tried some mixing and matching in an effort to jump start the Tiger offense.

“We changed the formation again, I think we are trying to figure out exactly who to play where,” said Driscoll. “At this point in the season, we are still trying different things. There are so many new faces.”

Star forward McNab has kept things together for Princeton at the offensive end, leading the team in scoring with one goal and three assists.

“Heather is great, she gives everything she can the entire game,” said Driscoll. “She works extraordinarily hard and she tries to fit into whatever we play. She can play any position on the field. She works diligently to make us better. We have two captains who lead by example in every sense of the word. They are professional in their mentality, they are professional in their quality. All you want to do is win for them.”

While the Tigers have earned some big wins so far this fall, they haven’t quite found a groove.

“It is disheartening a little bit. We take a couple of steps forward, they we take a couple of steps back,” said Driscoll. “At the end of the day, we are 4-2 overall. We have figured some things out. We have beaten an ACC team (1-0 win over Miami on August 23) and we have beaten a Big East team (3-1 win over Seton Hall on August 29), We got a good result down in Willam & Mary (a 2-0 win on September 8) and we got a good result against Drexel (2-1 last Friday) and then we fall short in two big games by a goal. We lost 1-0 to Penn State and 1-0 today. All things considered, we are not playing great but we are still in the game.”

The matchup at Fairfield this Wednesday will be special for Driscoll as he coached the Stags from 2010-14.

“It is going to have some emotional connection for me” said Driscoll. “They are really good, they are 6-1 and are scoring a lot, four goals a game. If we don’t change the way we play, we are going to struggle in that game. It will be a really good test for us to go on the road and try to get a result. That is what the team needs, we have to learn how to deal with that stuff.”

In McCamey’s view, the Tigers are ready for the tests ahead.

“We have Ivy League coming up, we are really excited for the league,” said McCamey. “The team is in a good spot. We have lost some games against really good opponents and we have beaten some good opponents. It is still pretty early in the season and we have the league ahead of us so we are going to keep working on it and trying to build from here. I think heads are up.”