Seelenfreund Nets Game Winner, Women’s Soccer Blanks Princeton, 1-0

Saturday, October 12

Providence, RI

3:00 PM

Brown University

9-1-1, 3-0-0Ivy

Princeton University

4-5-2, 1-2-0Ivy

Princeton

Brown

Seelenfreund Nets Game Winner, Women’s Soccer Blanks Princeton, 1-0

10/12/2019 10:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Freshman Ava Seelenfreund scored the game-winning goal in the 81^st minute, and the Bears' defense posted its eighth team shutout of the season as Brown University women's soccer blanked Princeton University, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon at Stevenson-Pincince Field.

The Bears (9-1-1, 3-0-0 Ivy) are off to their best start through 11 games since the team posted an undefeated regular season (13-0-1) in 1984 and improved to 8-0-0 at home in 2019 with the victory over the visiting Tigers (4-5-2, 1-2-0) – the favorites in the Ivy League Preseason Poll and winners of three of the last four Ivy titles.

"Princeton is a very well-coached, well-organized team," Brown head coach Kia McNeill said. "We knew that we wouldn't get a lot of chances on goal and that we would need to be clinical in the final third when we did get a chance. Ava was finishing that exact same goal all week in practice so it was great to see her put the same one away in the game."

Alongside its best start since 1984, Brown – ranked No. 10 in the NCAA RPI and No. 14 in the Top Drawer Soccer national poll – improved to 3-0-0 in Ivy League play for the first time since 1994. The Bears have posted an 8-0-0 home record in 2019 (outscoring opponents 18-2) and have gone 11-0-0 in their last 11 home matches (outscoring opponents 30-3).

"It was a tremendous effort from our team," McNeill said. "We had to stick with the game plan throughout and be aggressive in the final third. It was a great game on both sides, and I'm happy we came out on top."

Seelenfreund (Truckee, Calif.) scored her fourth goal of the season and tallied her third game-winning goal of the year. Sophomores Maesyn G'Bye (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) and Rebecca Rosen (Port Washington, N.Y.) each posted an assist on the play. With her first assist of the year, G'Bye became the 14^th Bear to record a point this season. Rosen notched her second assist of 2019.

Brown registered its eighth team clean sheet in 11 games played this season as the Bears lead the nation in fewest goals allowed (three), while ranking fourth in the NCAA in both save percentage and GAA.

Junior goalkeeper Kayla Thompson (Austin, Texas) – who ranks third in the NCAA in save percentage and GAA – made one save and recorded her sixth shutout of the season.

Junior center backs Sydney Cummings (Millstone Township, N.J.) and Cameron Brown (Portsmouth, Va.) have played all 1,010 minutes on the season and helped the Bears post 19 shutouts since 2017. Sophomore right back Lauren Hinton (Middletown, Conn.) and freshman left back Rachyl Francisco (South San Francisco, Calif.) also played the full 90 minutes in the match.

On the game's scoring play, Rosen tapped the ball wide to G'Bye who sent a left-footed service into the box where a waiting Seelenfreund rose up and headed the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the goal area at the 80:51 mark.

Freshman Brittany Raphino (Randolph, Mass.) – who played the full 90 minutes – nearly broke through on multiple occasions in the second half, including shots in the penalty area that required saves in the 62^nd and 69^th minutes.

For the match, Brown held advantages in shots (7-4), shots on goal (4-1), and corner kicks (5-3).

Princeton goalkeeper Natalie Grossi made three saves in the setback.

Next, Brown plays at Harvard (9-2-0, 3-0-0 Ivy) on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+) in a matchup featuring the top two teams in the Ivy League standings.

Video of all Brown women's soccer home contests and all Ivy League games, home and away, will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Tickets for all Brown women's soccer games can be purchased online, by calling the Brown Athletics Ticket Office at (401) 863-2773, or by walking up to the box office located in the Pizzitola Sports Center, open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.