Goalies shine as women's hockey ties Providence, shuts out Elis on the road

After suffering through many third-period breakdowns and eight one-goal losses last season, the women's ice hockey team made it a goal for this year to hold strong down the stretch and to not let games slip away in the last 20 minutes.

The team showed the resolve and poise it has been looking for this weekend as Princeton (2-3-1, 1-2-0 ECAC) tied Providence, 1-1, Friday and beat Yale 4-0 on Sunday.

In Friday's matchup, junior netminder Sarah Ahlquist stole the show, stopping 23 of 24 shots she faced.

"Sarah played great," senior co-captain Aviva Grumet-Morris said. "She really kept us in the game when our offense started to sputter."

"She [Ahlquist] played really well," sophomore forward Lisa Rasmussen agreed. "She made some big saves. Had any of those shots gone in, it would have cost us the game."

Princeton's lone goal in the contest was scored by sophomore forward Gretchen Anderson on a feed from fellow sophomore forward Susan Hobson. The goal, recorded at the 5:27 mark of the first period, gave the Tigers the edge for 10 minutes before the Friars tied the game.

Ahlquist dug in for the last two periods, surviving an onslaught of shots to assure a point in the standings for her team.

On Sunday, the Tigers stepped up their game, but had trouble finding the net in the first two periods. Though they outshot Yale 39-15, the team went into the last period in a 0-0 deadlock.

Whereas last year this kind of situation spelled trouble for Princeton, this year's squad proved it is a new team with a new attitude.

Hobson opened the scoring in the beginning of the third, tallying on a pass from sophomore forward Angela Gooldy. With the floodgates open, the Tigers pounced on the Elis, getting goals from sophomore Nikola Homes, Anderson, and Grumet-Morris.

"We just needed to get that first goal," Rasmussen said. "Once Hobson scored, we were more relaxed and the goals just kept coming."

Overshadowed by the third-period heroics was sophomore goaltender Megan Van Beusekom, who recorded her first shutout of the season.

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"Megan played really well for us," Rasmussen said. "Both of our goalies had a great weekend and kept us close in both games."

The team is cautiously optimistic going into next weekend's matchups against Boston College and Connecticut.

"We know that BC is going to be a tough team, but we feel confident after this weekend," Grumet-Morris said. "We are pleased that we didn't give up anything in the third period, but we can't wait until the third [period] to get our offense going. We need to take this momentum and carry it into next week."