Women's hockey takes two, then falls to No. 1 Dartmouth

One good thing about history is that one can make countless comparisons between it and sports.

One recent comparison is between Napoleon's conquest of Europe and the women's ice hockey team's games last week. Just as Napoleon started off by taking care of business against the smaller, weaker countries of Europe, so did Princeton against its first two opponents, Wayne State and Boston College.

Once Napoleon had to cross the frozen tundra into Russia, however, it was all over. And that is what happened to Princeton as it went north to Hanover, N.H., to face top-ranked Dartmouth. A good showing against the Big Green would have given the Tigers confidence as they finished off the regular season and headed into the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference playoffs.

Coming off exam week, the Tigers were hoping that a couple good wins over conference-rival Boston College (5-22-0 overall, 1-19-0 ECAC) and non-conference foe Wayne State (4-17-1, 0-5 Great Lakes Women's Hockey Association) would do enough to get them ready.

"[The games] were right after exams, during which we had optional practices, so we lost the team for a while," junior center Andrea Kilbourne said.

At the beginning of the Wayne State game, the exam break looked as though it might have affected the Princeton offense as it was unable to score a goal in the first twenty minutes of play. During the second period, however, the onslaught began, as Kilbourne scored her first goal just six minutes in. Freshman forward Gretchen Anderson scored later in the period and then assisted Kilbourne to help finish up the third period with a 3-0 Tiger lead.

With another three goals in the third, one each by freshman left wing Susan Hobson, junior right wing Jess Fedderly and Anderson, Princeton was able to finish the game off with a 6-0 victory. After the carnage was done, both Kilbourne and Anderson ended up with two goals and an assist.

The Tigers were able to carry their success into the Boston College game Saturday. After a week of practice, the women were looking forward to beating the Eagles for the second time this season. The Tigers were able to pull ahead early with three goals in the first two periods, each on power plays. Kilbourne started off the scoring with an assist from Laura Hays.

In the second period, senior forward Abbey Fox assisted both junior defender Aviva Grumet-Morris as well as Fedderly for a 3-0 victory. In goal, sophomore Sarah Ahlquist came out with a 10-save shutout.

Despite the two overwhelming victories against Wayne State and BC, the women were weary heading up to Hanover, N.H., to face Dartmouth (18-1-1, 16-1-1), ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Nevertheless, the Princeton women started out strong and kept the game close for much of the first period until a Princeton penalty put Dartmouth on the power play.

The first shift on the penalty kill was successful for the Tigers, but the line change gave the Big Green an opportunity.

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"We were killing it pretty well when we cleared it and changed lines. Dartmouth was just able to quickly come down and somehow score. It wasn't really anybody's fault," Kilbourne said.

Dartmouth struck again with an unassisted goal midway through the third. Only shortly thereafter, though, Princeton freshman defender Lisa Rasmussen scored to bring the game to 2-1. Despite taking 11 shots in the third period, Princeton was unable to score again and gave up an empty-netter with 25 seconds left to finish the game off with a 3-1 loss. In goal for Princeton was freshman Megan van Beusekom, who kept the Tigers in the game, allowing just two goals on 52 shots.

With only a month left in the season, Princeton stands in ninth place out of 13 teams in the ECAC with 12 points in 16 conference games. For it to move up in the rankings, it will have to do well against its next two conference opponents, Brown and Niagara, both of which are ranked ahead of Princeton.

"We're going to have to start standing up to the pressure and win a couple of games in which we are the underdogs," Kilbourne said.