Women’s soccer routed by Princeton in shutout loss

In what Head Coach Kia McNeill described as a “poor performance from start to finish,” the women’s soccer team (4-3-3, Ivy 1-1-0) suffered their first Ivy League loss on the road Saturday, falling 8-0 to Princeton (7-3-0, Ivy 2-0-0). Saturday’s loss broke the 28-match winning streak for Brown in Ivy League regular season play.

“Princeton is a good team but they’re not eight goals better than us and our team knows that. They came to play, and unfortunately we did not show up today,” McNeill said in a statement to Brown Athletics. “Everything about our performance was not reflective of who we are as a team.”

Perhaps the most glaring issue with Brown’s performance was their lack of offense. In over 90 minutes of play, the Bears managed to generate just nine shots — a stark contrast to the Tigers’ 23. Throughout the entire game, Princeton’s defense was remarkably effective, disrupting the Bears’ offensive rhythm and forcing turnovers.

But despite the jarring final score, the Bears competed hard in the first half. The first goal came in the 29th minute, when Princeton defender Kiley Hamou dribbled the ball up to the Brown goal and delivered a soft, accurate pass across the penalty area. The pass found Lily Bryant, who fired the ball into the upper-right corner, hitting off the crossbar and into the net. Bryant’s goal was the only goal in the first half and yielded the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

The second half of the game is when things went downhill for the Bears. Less than a minute in, Brown’s Chesney Robinson ’28 fouled Princeton forward Heather MacNab in the box, giving the Tigers a promising penalty kick opportunity. To the Bears’ dismay, MacNab loosed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal, extending the Tiger lead to two.

From then on, the game was merely a parade of Princeton goals, three of which came from Pietra Tordin, whose hat-trick earned her the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honor. Tordin was nothing short of dominant, dribbling around Brown defenders with ease and rifling shots at will. Tordin’s three goals came consecutively, all within the span of just 15 minutes of play. 

To complement Tordin’s heroic efforts, Princeton’s Ally Murphy, Grace Rossner and Isabella Garces added second-half goals that yielded the Tigers an insurmountable 8-0 lead, energizing a thrilled New Jersey crowd. The Tigers’ offense fired on all cylinders, moving the ball around the field effortlessly and setting up shot on goal after shot on goal. In the second half alone, the Tigers outshot the Bears 13 to 3. 

“As hard as this loss was to swallow, we win as a team and lose as a team. We will reflect and bounce back for Yale on Wednesday,” said McNeill.

None of the three players The Herald contacted replied to requests for comment.

Brown will host the Yale Bulldogs (7-3-1, Ivy 1-0-1) on Wednesday night at Stevenson-Pincince Field in Providence. Wednesday’s contest begins at 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.