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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Princeton Women's Soccer Makes History; Beats Washington to Advance to Final Four
By Bill Alden
In 1993, Bob Bradley coached the Princeton University men's soccer team to a dream season as it advanced all the way to the NCAA Final Four. Two years later, when Julie Shackford came to Princeton to take over the Tiger women's program, she harbored no expectation of matching Bradley's achievement.
"I remember telling people that I would never win a national championship at Princeton," recalled Shackford. "I just wanted us to win the league and get into the NCAAs."
Last Friday, Shackford matched Bradley's feat as her seventh-seeded Tigers beat 15th seeded Washington 3-1 in the NCAA quarterfinals before a frenzied crowd of 2,504 jamming Lourie-Love Field.
The Tigers' historic win, which made them the first Ivy League women's team to earn a trip to the NCAA Final Four, earned the club a semifinal matchup against perennial power UCLA on December 3 at the State Capital Soccer Park in Cary, N. C.
If Princeton wins, it will advance to the national title game on December 5 against the victor of the Santa Clara-Notre Dame matchup.
Appropriately enough, one of the first well-wishers to phone Shackford this past weekend was Bradley, now the head coach of the NY/NJ MetroStars of Major League Soccer.
"Bob Bradley is one of my heroes," said Shackford, who inherited a program that was 20 games under .500 in the seven seasons before she arrived.
"He called me this weekend while he was on his way to Brazil to find some more players. He was excited for us; he told me it's so nice when a team comes together like this."
In Shackford's view, her team came together like never before as it beat Washington to improve to 19-2.
"I thought we played a very good game," said Shackford, whose team extended its program-record home winning streak to 19 with the convincing win over the Huskies.
"We were a little tentative early but then Emily Behncke scored and that really got us going. Behncke just had a fantastic game for us."
Washington responded to Behncke's goal with a score at the 31 minute mark to knot the game at 1-1 going into the half. During the break, Princeton assistant coach Chris Pfau suggested an adjustment to jumpstart the offense.
"We put Diana Matheson up higher in the midfield in the second half," recalled Shackford, who said her team hit the pitch with an extra emotional edge as it wanted to win for assistant coach Ron Celestin, who had to miss the game to attend his brother's funeral in Haiti.
"I thought that helped get her more in the offense. In the second half, we put them under pressure from the get-go."
It didn't take long in the second half for the Tigers to put the game out of reach. Just 5:32 into the half, Princeton's all-time top scorer, Esmeralda Negron, found the back of the net on a perfect feed from Behncke.
Then, just under five minutes later, Tina Fontanez took a Negron cross and knocked it home to give Princeton some extra breathing room.
As the final seconds ticked off, Shackford was beside herself as she tried to come to terms with her club's achievement.
"I was flipping out, it was crazy," remembered Shackford, who now has a 117-51-10 mark in her 10 seasons heading the Princeton program.
"The whole thing is unbelievable. I was speechless. I kept saying Œwe're going to the Final Four.'"
To make the Tigers' trip to North Carolina even more special, Shackford will be matching wits with her best friend and college teammate, UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis.
"It is great," asserted Shackford, a former star at William and Mary who first met Ellis in 1982 when they played on a club team in Northern Virginia. "We've been competing against each other since we were kids. I can think of no one I'd rather face in this game."
Shackford acknowledges that 14th seeded UCLA (17-6) presents her team with a formidable challenge.
"They have been to the Final Four three times in the last four years so we go in as the greener team," added Shackford.
"They probably play tougher teams than we do. I think that they will be the most athletic team we have seen so far this season."
Shackford is doing her best to keep her players from getting carried away by what they have already achieved in this magical fall.
"We met with them yesterday and we said we are not going down there to enjoy the Final Four, we are going there to win," declared Shackford.
"Our focus this week is to not change a thing. The girls are really confident right now. We want to keep everything as we have been doing it all season long."
If the Tigers can maintain their laser-like focus, they may even surpass Bradley's legendary 1993 squad which fell to Virginia in the national semis.
