W. hockey ties Providence, falls to Northeastern

The Zamboni was resurfacing the ice for the last period as the women's hockey team found itself in an all too familiar situation — scoreless. Trailing by one to Northeastern (10-2-0 overall, 7-1-0 Eastern College Athletic Conf-erence) yesterday, the Tigers sat in the locker room trying to devise a plan that would help bring them back into the game.

The Tigers thought back to Saturday's game against Providence (11-2-2, 7-2-2) when they managed a 1-1 overtime tie despite waiting until the third period to score a goal. Last weekend's nine goals and back-to-back narrow victories over St. Cloud were also still fresh in their minds.

Princeton just needed to rise to the occasion.

"Northeastern's not a better team than us," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. "I told the girls they needed to change their relationship with the goalie. We knew we could win, it was just a matter of scoring some goals."

Princeton (4-6-2, 2-6-2) did manage to light up the scoreboard once Sunday afternoon. The Tigers' lone goal of the day came with five minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the game when senior captain Abbey Fox — assisted by co-captain junior Andrea Kilbourne and freshman forward Lisa Rasmussen — slipped the puck past Northeastern's goalie, Erika Silva. This effort, however, came too little and too late, for the Huskies had already extended their lead to 2-0 at the start of the third period.

The Huskies had taken advantage of a shorthanded Tiger squad at 5:50 into the second stanza. With freshman forward Gretchen Anderson in the penalty box, Northeastern took the lead with a shot into the right corner of the net.

Though the Tigers came within one, Northeastern turned in another goal with three seconds left on the clock. In a last-minute attempt to tie up the game, the Tigers struggled to hold on to the puck. The Huskies took advantage while Princeton was switching lines and had too many players on the ice by sinking the puck into an unguarded Tiger net.

"We had too many players on the ice, and the hockey gods make you pay for that," Kampersal said. "There was a point against Northeastern when we dominated them five on five, but we just didn't get a single shot on goal. It's hard and frustrating."

Though freshman goalie Megan Van Beusekom couldn't make it to the net in time to block Northeastern's final shot, she compensated for Princeton's low scoring with 20 saves Sunday.

"Megan's been playing really well," Kampersal said. "She spaced out a bit at a critical time Sunday, but she's been very reliable."

In Saturday's game against Providence, Van Beusekom provided the Tigers with a defensive wall in net, registering 21 saves — three of which came in overtime. The only goal she allowed came when Princeton was down a man due to a penalty.

At 7:30 into the third period, while Kilbourne sat in the penalty box for a boarding penalty, the Friars scored the first goal of the game. Two minutes later Kil-bourne was back on the ice and ready to respond. At 9:07, she and freshman forward Susan Hobson assisted Fox who netted the final, tying goal.

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Neither team could keep the puck long enough to score and pull ahead. Providence took a timeout with one minute remaining, but was still unable to net a shot. This would continue into the ensuing five minute overtime period. The Tigers took one shot while the Friars made three attempts to score. Time ran out and the game ended in a 1-1 tie before either team could gain the upper hand.

"We played hard, and we blocked shots," Kampersal said. "We just need to use more cross-crease passing and get our opponents' goalies to move more."

The Tigers hope to put up a better fight next weekend when they head to Lake Placid, N.Y. where they will face Annamarie Holmes '01 and the U.S. Women's National Hockey Team.