Women's hockey breaks down against Brown and Harvard

After four months of play, this weekend's regular-season conclusion was not what the women's hockey team had in mind for a playoff tune-up.

Princeton (15-9-3 overall, 10-6-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference-North) entered this weekend's action at Brown and Harvard with a shot at tying juggernaut Dartmouth for a share of the Ivy League and ECAC titles, but came back to New Jersey reeling from a 4-1 defeat in Providence and a 7-1 pounding in Cambridge.

The Bears bombarded Tiger sophomore goalie Megan Van Beusekom with 54 shots on the way to their three-goal victory Friday night. After a scoreless first period, Brown struck in the second with two goals in a three-minute span to give it all the breathing room they would need.

Princeton freshman forward April Brown scored late in the period, at 17 minutes, 26 seconds, to trim the deficit to 2-1. Senior forward Melissa Deland picked up the only Tiger assist.

The Tigers would head downhill from there. Brown (20-7-2, 12-3-1) again unleashed a pair of quick goals to push the lead to 4-1 with just under 13 minutes remaining and seal the victory. Bear goalie Katie Germain faced 31 shots on the night, stopping 30. Van Beusekom, provided the silver lining by racking up a career-high 50 saves.

In a preview of this weekend's best-of-three first-round playoff series, Harvard (16-10-2, 9-5-2) battered Princeton 7-1. Van Beusekom, whose pads were still smoking from the truckload of shots she turned away the night before, started off strong but wore down in the second period and was replaced in goal by junior Sarah Ahlquist.

The Crimson got on the board first, scoring at 18:27 of the first, and the period ended with the game still up for grabs. Just 1:27 into the second, however, Harvard put some distance between itself and its Ivy League rival, scoring two goals in 25 seconds and prompting Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal to relieve Van Beusekom.

Unfortunately, it was only a temporary band-aid. The Tigers still could not find an offense when, down 3-0 in the third, Harvard extended the lead just three minutes in, then turned the game into a blowout with two goals later to make it 6-0. Senior forward Jessica Fedderly finally shed the goose egg, scoring at 18:59 of the third off a pass from sophomore forward Lisa Rasmussen. To reinforce its point, Harvard added an insurance goal with five seconds, producing the final 7-1 disparity.

"It's hard to break down," Kampersal said of the weekend struggle.

"Anything that could go wrong went wrong. We played decently for the first half of the Brown game and then the wheels completely fell off."

The Tigers now turn their focus to this weekend's playoff series against Harvard. Injuries and flu cases have mounted lately and Kampersal anxiously awaits junior forward Nikola Holmes' possible return Wednesday from an ankle sprain. Princeton — who finished tied with Harvard for fourth in the conference — won home-ice advantage by virtue of a tiebreaker with the Crimson. All three games are at Hobey Baker Rink, and the first team to win two games advances.

"Both teams are comparable on paper," Kampersal said. "We need to have a big game Friday. We're certainly capable of that, it's just whether we want to do it or not."