Scoring burst drives women's hockey to wins over Colgate and Cornell

After emerging from last weekend's competition with a win and a tie, the women's hockey team was less than pleased. This weekend, however, the Princeton offense matched its highest output of the regular season twice as the Tigers topped both Colgate and Cornell by the same 4-1 score.

Saturday, senior defender Aviva Grumet-Morris scored her first goal of the season and added two assists as the Tigers (5-3-2 overall, 3-2-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference - North) cruised past Cornell (2-8-0, 1-3-0) in Ithaca.

Big Red senior forward Sarah Olivier sent Princeton reeling early, scoring five minutes, 14 seconds into the first period to give Cornell a 1-0 lead.

"That was definitely a wake-up call for us," Grumet-Morris said. "We didn't expect to lose to them, and going down 1-0 in the first gave us a shock."

The shock paid dividends. It was all Tigers following the early scare. Princeton seized control, scoring four unanswered goals in a 16-minute span over the second and third periods.

Sophomore forward Gretchen Anderson tied the contest at one with a power-play goal at 11:59 of the second with Grumet-Morris picking up the first of her two assists. It only took three minutes before the Tigers were ahead for good. Sophomore forward Lisa Rasmussen scored an unassisted power-play goal at 15:14, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead heading into the third period - the only cushion they would need.

For good measure, sophomore Susan Hobson added the third Tiger goal just 42 seconds into the final period, assisted by sophomore Nikola Holmes and Grumet-Morris. At 7:49, Grumet-Morris capped the victory with her first goal of the season.

"It was a turnover in the neutral zone," Grumet-Morris said. "Their defense was backing up, which meant I could use them as a screen. I pulled it to my forehand, fired across the screen from the right, and it went in left."

Princeton sophomore goaltender Megan Van Beusekom made 18 saves on 19 shots. The Tigers outshot the Big Red 34-19 and capitalized on two of five power-play opportunities while Cornell went scoreless in six extra-man tries.

Friday evening Princeton did battle just up the road in Hamilton, N.Y., this time handling Colgate in another 4-1 victory. Anderson and senior defender Melissa Deland each scored twice in the victory.

Anderson scored unassisted just 2:03 into the first period before Deland made it 2-0, scoring after a pass from freshman forward April Brown at 6:03. The Raiders (4-6-1, 0-2-1) didn't manage a shot on goal in the first period.

Colgate scored on its first shot of the game when freshman forward Kristin Cirbus slipped one by Tiger sophomore goalie Sarah Ahlquist at 9:34 of the second. At 11:58 of the second Deland pushed the lead to 3-1 with an assist from junior forward Jessica Fedderly. Hobson then threaded a pass to Anderson, who scored the final tally of the game at 13:17.

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Colgate would have needed all of their shots to find the net in order to win the game. Princeton outshot the Raiders 31-5, by far their greatest shooting advantage of the season. Ahlquist, sharing time all season with Van Beusekom, had a slow night, needing just four saves to secure the victory.

"We forechecked well in their own zone," Grumet-Morris said. "They really didn't have very many opportunities to get it down into our end.

"We were definitely pleased with the wins. I'm happy with how our season's going, but we do need to work on playing the 60 full minutes. I think we've got a real good base. It's a matter of playing all the way through the game and not being content with a lead."

The Tigers have won three straight games and are unbeaten in their last six.

The Tigers have compiled a 2-0 record against Ivy League teams. They take on New Hampshire Dec. 8 and Qunnipiac Dec. 9 here at Baker Rink before heading to Ohio State for games Dec. 14 and Dec. 15. After that, Princeton does not play again in 2001, their next action coming Jan. 5 at Dartmouth.