Women's hockey loses, ties in opening weekend

The women's hockey team opened its 2000-2001 campaign during Fall Break and found itself involved in a pair of tight contests right from the start. Princeton dropped its season-opener at Northeastern on Saturday, 3-2. The Tigers then salvaged a 4-4 tie at Providence on Sunday.

In its first game of the season, Princeton recorded an impressive edge over the host Huskies (4-0-0 overall, 2-0-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) in shots on goal — 48-23. It was all for naught, however, since Northeastern goaltender Erika Silva made 46 saves on the day. Sara Mahoney and Erica Archambeau each scored in the third period to give the Huskies a lead Princeton could not recover from. The Tigers did pull to within 3-2 on a goal by senior forward Abbey Fox with 39 seconds remining, but it was too little, too late.

Princeton's second game of the weekend saw the Tigers facing the unappealing prospect of an 0-2 start, but junior forward Andrea Kilbourne made sure Princeton did not leave the weekend empty-handed.

After taking a 1-0 lead over Providence (3-0-1, 1-0-1) on a goal by senior defender Laura Hays, the Tigers saw Providence take leads of 3-1 and 4-2. Princeton, however, began to click at the right time. With just under five minutes remaining in regulation, sophomore forward Nikola Holmes scored a goal off assists from Fox and Kilbourne. Then, in the final two minutes, Kilbourne netted another to tie it up.

Out of the gate

Though Princeton exited the weekend with an 0-1-1 record — both overall and in league play — Kilbourne is already off to a blazing start. Her two goals and one assist — all in the third period — were instrumental in the tie with the Friars. She also added a goal in the Northeastern loss.

Princeton will look to get in the win column in its first home game this Saturday against Dartmouth. The Tigers will then take on Boston College (1-3-0, 0-3-0) Sunday. This weekend will present a true test for Princeton, however, with the Big Green (3-0-0, 3-0-0) sporting a No. 1 national ranking.

Dartmouth wasted little time in establishing itself as one of the ECAC's teams to beat this season. In three games, the Big Green has posted victories over Boston College, New Hampshire and Maine by a combined score of 15-4. These wins were made all the more impressive by the fact that all three came on the road.