Women's hockey loses first game, ties second at Niagara

In Eastern College Athletic Conference women's hockey, only eight teams advance to the playoffs. Going into this weekend's two games against eighth-place Nia-gara, Princeton was in ninth place.

Thus, by playing the Purple Eagles, Princeton had a chance to take matters into its own hands instead of relying on another team to beat Niagara. If the Tigers could come away with two victories, they would be in the playoff driver's seat with a one-point lead over the Purple Eagles.

Such a scenario would not come to fruition, though, as the Tigers (11-11-3 overall, 6-11-3 ECAC) were unable to tighten the race. Niagara (16-12-4, 8-10-4) won the first game, 3-1, and the two teams tied the second, 3-3.

Princeton started the two-game series on Friday night with a powerplay goal by senior forward Abbey Fox with two minutes, two seconds to play in the first period. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Tigers gave up two goals in the second period and then another in the third. Although Princeton was able to keep the shot total even, they were not able to put the puck in the back of the net. The Tigers were able to capitalize on only one of 28 shots — a problem they had not experienced in recent games.

With a loss in the first game of the series, Princeton was five points behind Niagara with five games remaining. The Tigers stepped onto the ice on Saturday with a sense of urgency, because a victory over Niagara was crucial to remaining within striking distance of eighth place.

Although Princeton was unable to come out with a win, it was able to get away with a 3-3 tie, thus keeping eighth place within sight.

The Purple Eagles seemed headed for a weekend sweep after scoring twice in the first period. A goal by senior forward Andrea Kil-bourne with 5:50 remaining in the first and another by junior defenseman Aviva Grumet-Morris with 10:59 to go in the second brought renewed hope and tied the score at two.

Two minutes later, the Purple Eagles followed Grumet-Morris's goal with one of their own to take a 3-2 lead. But then, only a minute later, Princeton sophomore forward Nikola Holmes evened it at 3-3 with seven minutes, 29 seconds remaining in the second.

With neither team scoring on the final 30 shots of the game, the contest ended in a tie, giving each team a single point in the ECAC standings.

Thus, instead of narrowing Niagara's three point lead, the Tigers allowed it to lengthen to five points with only four games (New Hampshire, Maine, Cornell, and St. Lawrence) remaining.

Princeton does have the number of games to be played as well as the quality of their opponents working in their favor, though, as three of the four Princeton foes reside in the bottom half of the ECAC and Niagara's only two games remaining are against Dartmouth, ranked first in the nation.

Thus, if Niagara fails to get any points in its last two contests of the season, the Tigers will need to win just three of its last four to be likely to qualify for the playoffs — a feat certainly within reach.