After 0-2 weekend, w. hockey remains winless on road

Women's hockey seems to be stuck in a rut.

Like it has in previous games this season, Princeton struggled to light up the scoreboard while on the road this weekend, losing two eerily similar games. Not only did Prince-ton suffer 4-0 losses to both Harvard and Brown, but in each game, the Tigers had particular trouble containing their opponents' strong Canadian players.

While the Tigers have just two Canadians on their squad, Brown has 12 Canadian residents on its roster and No. 4 Harvard has seven.

Princeton (2-5-1 overall, 2-5-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) took the ice against Brown (5-1, 3-1) yesterday at Meehan Auditorium in Providence, R.I., with hopes of redeeming its disappointing 4-0 shutout against Harvard the day before. The game, however, quickly came to mirror Saturday's match in which the Tigers' opponents took the lead and never looked back.

Brown's top line, which boasts a number of strong players, managed to net the first goal of the day, leaving Princeton trailing for the rest of the game.

Only two minutes into the game, one of Brown's Canadian forwards, Melissa Rennison, surprised the Tigers with a quick shot past sophomore goalie Sarah Alquist. The Bears extended their lead seven minutes later with another goal from senior forward Christina Sorbara, also Canadian.

Following a scoreless second period, Brown's Canadian contingent continued to dominate the ice. A minute after taking the ice for the final period, junior forward Kristy Zamora slammed a shot into the top of the net off an assist from sophomore defender and fellow Canadian Cassie Turner. The Bears tallied their final goal with nine minutes left in their 4-0 win over the Tigers.

"We played well both days, but we had a couple of breakdowns on defense which led to their chances," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said.The Tigers got off to a slippery start Saturday when Harvard (5-3 overall, 5-1 ECAC) grabbed an early lead. The first period saw only one goal — from Crimson forward Tammy Shewchuk, who was assisted by teammate Jennifer Botterill. Princeton failed to respond and was outshot 12-4 in the first stanza.

The Tigers managed a few more attempts on goal in the next period. However, they were unable to hold onto the puck long enough to score. The second period went scoreless as the Crimson outshot them, 17-10.

Just as in Sunday's game, Princeton's opposing Canadians maintained possession of the puck for most of the game. With Botterill and Shewchuk on the ice, Harvard was able to turn in three more goals in the third period before claiming a 4-0 victory.

Shewchuk got the rally started at eight minutes, 40 seconds into the period when she took a feed from Botterill and slipped one in behind freshman goalie Megan Van Beusekom, netting her second goal of the game. Schechuk had a hand in two more as she assisted Botterill in scoring the final goals of the game — one halfway through the period and the other with five seconds left on the clock.

Harvard registered 43 shots on goal while Princeton managed 27. Van Beusekom recorded 39 saves. Jessica Ruddock, another Canadian on the Harvard squad, was also key in Saturday's victory as she turned in 27 saves in her first complete collegiate game.