Women's hockey aiming for ECAC title

With a militant flourish, Princeton women's hockey marched through New York two months ago and conquered Ithaca and Hamilton. This weekend, the Tigers must defend against the counterattack.

Cornell and Colgate pay a visit to Baker Rink tonight at 7 p.m. and tomorrow at 4 p.m., respectively, and Princeton hopes to repeat the success of its matching 4-1 victories posted over each team earlier this season.

"This time it will be a little different," Kampersal said. "Cornell and Colgate each have more momentum coming in and they've been playing well as of late."

Princeton (11-6-2 overall, 7-3-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) had no trouble dispatching either squad in their first meetings, holding Colgate (10-12-1, 1-6-1) to five shots in their win Nov. 30 in Hamilton, N.Y. and overcoming an early 1-0 deficit to score four unanswered and topple Cornell (4-14-1, 3-6-1) in Ithaca Dec. 1.

"We're keeping the same game plan this time around," Kampersal said. "We will need to capitalize on the power play."

As they have all season, junior goaltender Sarah Ahlquist and sophomore goaltender Megan Van Beusekom, three-time ECAC Goalie of the Week in 2001-02, split time that weekend, with Ahlquist getting the win over Cornell and Van Beusekom having a sleepy night against Colgate, needing just four saves in the victory.

"We usually take it game by game," Kampersal said of his goalie situation. "We look for who's playing better in practice all week. Whoever is hot will play."

Princeton will be satisfied with no less than two victories this weekend, a goal that is well within reach. The combined record of these two foes is 14-25-2 overall and just 4-12-2 in ECAC competition. The Tigers are outscoring their ECAC opponents 3.2 to 1.7 while Cornell and Colgate are on the short end of that statistic. Opponents are outscoring the Big Red nearly three to two in conference play while the Raiders have a gaping 3.7 to 1.1 deficit. Those stats may be misleading, though.

"They have a lot more confidence in their game plans this time around," he said. "They had new systems earlier this year, but now they're more comfortable with them. Both teams work hard all 60 minutes."

Sophomore forward Gretchen Anderson leads the Tigers in goals (13) and points (22). Senior Aviva Grumet-Morris has a team-high 11 assists. Van Beusekom has the slight edge in Princeton goalie stats with a .929 save percentage, a 1.78 goals-against average, a .700 winning percentage, and two shutouts in ten games. Ahlquist has a .922 save percentage and a 1.74 GAA along with one shutout and a .556 winning percentage in nine games.

Junior Lindsay Murao leads Cornell in goals (6) and points (13) and is tied with senior Jenel Bode for the team lead with seven assists. Juniors Liz Connelly and Sanya Sandahl guard the net for the Big Red. Connelly has a .919 save percentage and a 2.20 GAA in ten games. Sandahl saves 90 percent of her shots, letting in 3.31 goals per game on the way to an 0-8-1 record.

A freshman quartet highlights the Colgate marquee, an inexperienced core leading a team with a poor record. Freshman Cheryl Setchell leads the team in goals (12) and points (20) while fellow rookie Kristin Cirbus has racked up a team-high 12 assists.

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First-year goalies Recbecca Lahar and Lindsay Bourne have also shared time in net. Lahar has a .899 save percentage and a 3.07 GAA in eleven games, accumulating a 3-7-1 record. Bourne's numbers are slightly higher — a 5-4-0 record thanks to a .905 save percentage and a 2.32 GAA. Junior Jen Burtraw has a .882 save percentage and a 2.00 GAA in three games. The Raiders, just 1-6-1 in ECAC play, have had their record fluffed courtesy of a 9-6-0 non-conference performance against ECAC-inferior teams.

Despite the stats, Princeton is not taking this weekend for granted.

"The seniors, especially [defender] Melissa Deland and Aviva, keep the team focused no matter what," Kampersal said.