Women's hockey struggles past tough Cornell, whips Colgate

The Princeton women's hockey team (13-6-2 overall, 9-3-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference — North) beat the teams it was supposed to this weekend, as it disposed of Cornell (5-15-1, 4-7-1) and Colgate (11-11-2, 1-7-2).

Although the Big Red and the Raiders both sit near the bottom of the ECAC-North, they are very different teams. The Tigers struggled in a hard-fought win over Cornell, 4-3, while they cruised in a 6-1 drubbing of Colgate.

The Big Red came to Baker Rink Friday night riding high after a win over perennial power Harvard and a tie with second-place Brown.

"We definitely expected a battle," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. "They've been on fire lately."

The Tigers got a battle in more ways than one. The game featured 14 penalties evenly split between the two teams, with most being assessed for things like roughing, body-checking and hitting after the whistle.

Princeton was able to capitalize with the extra skater twice, scoring two power-play goals in the game.

The first goal came with teams at even strength, however. Sophomore forward Gretchen Anderson intercepted a clear attempt just inside the Cornell blue line, pulled left and snapped a wrist-shot over Cornell goalie Liz Conelly at seven minutes, 19 seconds of the first period to put the Tigers up, 1-0.

The rest of the first period featured sloppy, physical play on both sides, as neither team connected on its passes and both were whistled for multiple penalties.

On one such physical play, freshman defender Katherine Maglione was driven into the boards by Cornell's Lindsay Murao at 13:25 of the first. Murao received a penalty for body-checking on the play, and Maglione had to leave the game with a concussion.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead into the second period, which they were able to extend when sophomore forward Lisa Rasmussen connected on the power play off a pass from senior defender Aviva Grumet-Morris at 3:44.

Cornell responded less than five minutes later when it converted a power play goal of its own at 8:24 of the second, bringing the score to 2-1.

The Tigers once again extended their lead to two at 6:06 of the final period when Anderson netted her second goal of the game.

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Cornell refused to go away, however, and pressured the puck in Princeton's zone. The Big Red was rewarded when a slapshot by Bestwick ricocheted off the left post and hit Van Beusekom's right foot before finding the back of the net at 8:49 of the period, cutting the score to 3-2.

Anderson completed her hat trick at 14:45 with assists from senior Wanda Mason and sophomore Susan Hobson, but once again the Cornell offense would not relent. After sophomore Anita Khar brought the Big Red within one with 3:10 remaining, Kampersal called a timeout to calm his team. The Tigers escaped with a 4-3 victory.

"During the timeout I told them to settle down and get back to basics," Kampersal said.

"I thought we responded really well to almost losing the game and coming back to regain the two-goal lead. We tried really hard to give it away, though."

Saturday presented the Tigers with another team at the bottom of the ECAC in Colgate. The Raiders had nowhere near the momentum of Cornell, however, and Princeton disposed of them, 6-1, in a relatively penalty-free game.

Hobson put the Tigers up, 1-0, at 7:12 of the first period when she picked up the puck at mid-ice and carried it into the Colgate zone. After evading the Raider defenders with a sharp pull to her left, she snapped the puck into the back of the goal for the early lead.

This lead held until the last seven seconds of the period, when freshman Amanda Barre stuffed the puck by junior goalie Sarah Ahlquist to tie the contest at one apiece.

Princeton regained the lead for good when sophomore Angela Gooldy took control of the puck just outside the blue line, skated alone down the left side of the Raider zone and blasted a slapshot past the right shoulder of Colgate goalie Lindsay Bourne at 8:05 of the second period.

After widening their lead to two on a goal by senior Melissa Deland at 11:28 of the second period, the Tigers put Colgate away for good with three goals in four minutes in the third.

Princeton will travel to Maine to take on the Black Bears next Friday and Saturday.