Women's Soccer: Columbia Nets Ivy League Championship

After its first seven games of the season, few people would have believed that this women's soccer team could finish its Ivy League campaign with a 6-0-1 record. Two wins, three losses and two draws against non-league opponents hardly made for an auspicious start.

That changed when the women's first league game against Cornell rolled around. Columbia hadn't beaten the Big Red since 2001, but 2006 was a year of firsts, and the Lions started collecting them from the beginning. Within four minutes, they were ahead and on their way to a 2-1 victory. That night, the Lions were atop the league standings. Of course, none of the other teams had played a league game yet, but it gave the players a taste of what was to come.

The Lions followed that with a scrappy tie at Brown and a win at Penn. Apparently, this team never heard that it wasn't supposed to be any good on the road. Up until this year, the difference between home and road records for Columbia had been staggering. From 2003-06, the Lions were 19-8-1 at home and 4-16-2 away.

When the Lions returned to take on Princeton on Oct. 14, it was a freshman who stole the show. Sophie Reiser had a hand in every goal, scoring once and assisting on the other two goals in a 3-2 victory that tested Columbia's nerves until the dying seconds.

With a lot of character and a little bit of luck, the Lions held on for the win. Columbia was in second place, controlling its destiny and about to face off against the nationally ranked team in first place, Dartmouth.

Beating the Big Green at Baker Field would put Columbia in first, needing only a pair of road victories over less-than-spectacular Yale and Harvard to guarantee the title. It was the biggest game in the program's history and, on that electric night of Oct. 21, everyone in the stadium knew it.

After playing under pressure for the first 45 minutes, the Lions earned their distinction as a second-half team and turned the game on its head. In the 60th minute, Dartmouth's goalkeeper sent a poor goal kick straight to senior striker and Ivy Player of the Year Shannon Munoz, who didn't miss. Twenty-five minutes later, the Lions doubled the advantage, and, for the second time, Columbia was on top of the league.

Without great fuss, the Lions then traveled to New Haven and did the job. But by disposing of Harvard, Dartmouth did its job as well. Heading into the final weekend of Ivy play, the Lions had their work cut out for them. Beat Harvard and they would be champions. Anything less, and Dartmouth could steal the title with a win of its own.

After a scoreless first half, the Lions piled on the pressure, but the ball stayed out of the net. Goal line clearances, near-misses and great saves came thick and fast. Columbia took more chances to try to get the first goal, throwing more players forward and leaving acres of space at the back.

In the 82nd minute, the pressure paid off. It wasn't pretty, but it didn't matter. Senior Aubrey Medal, who has been one of the team's quietly efficient playmakers for four years, muscled her way into a goal mouth scramble and poked the ball home. Columbia had the goal it needed.

When time ran out, Columbia had an Ivy championship, and 48 hours later the team found out it would play the University of Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Though two defensive mistakes dragged the Lions to a 2-1 defeat, they hung with the Huskies until the bitter end in a game that could have gone either way.