New Hampshire hands women's hockey its first losses of the year

Women's hockey suffered its first two defeats of the season this weekend against No. 8 New Hampshire (9-1-1). After winning out in a four-game homestand to start the season, the Tigers faltered against the Wildcats.

"This weekend was a big test to see what kind of a team we are," head coach Jeff Kamper-sal '92 said.

In game one, Princeton was able to force overtime in a tightly contested battle before falling, 2-1. The Tigers (4-2 overall, 2-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) put the puck in the net first when junior defender Angela Gooldy's shot was redirected halfway through the first period, but the goal was waved off because a Tiger kicked the puck in.

The score was 0-0 after two periods, but the third held more excitement. New Hampshire's Carolyn Gordon found the back of the net just fifteen seconds into the final frame when she beat Princeton junior goalie Megan Van Beusekom high on her glove side.

As the clock ticked down, the Tigers were not able to muster a goal until they made good on a power play. With 2:11 left in the game, senior forward Nikola Holmes fired a wrister from just inside the blue line past Wildcat goalie Jen Huggon to tie the game at one apiece.

Because of two penalties late in the third period, both teams began overtime down a skater, and New Hampshire sealed the deal with a goal 59 seconds into the extra frame when Gordon recorded her second score of the game.

"We played really well defensively on Saturday," Kampersal said. "We had our chances to win that game."

The next day, the Tigers reentered the Whittemore Center, but the contest was much more one-sided.

New Hampshire notched its ninth victory of the year in a decisive 7-3 blowout over the Tigers.

"On Sunday, we were awful," Kampersal said. "We were out-coached, out-hustled, out-everythinged."

New Hampshire took only 16 shots in the first game. But the Wildcats let loose in the second game against the Tigers, firing 23 in the first period alone, two of which managed to get past Van Beusekom.

Gordon netted the first goal, keeping her the only goalscorer on the weekend against Princeton for the Wildcats to that point. New Hampshire's Chandy Kaip, the current Player of the Week in Women's Hockey East, converted the second.

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Princeton's first goal came from sophomore defender Katharine Maglione only 1:13 into the second period. Her goal cut the deficit to 2-1, but the close game soon slipped away.

The Wildcats took only 12 shots in the second period, but a quarter of them went in, and after two periods the score was already 5-1. Two of those three goals were Kaip's, completing a hat trick.

After the second period, Kampersal pulled Van Beusekom, who had surrendered five goals on 35 shots. Her replacement, freshman Roxanne Gaudiel, gave up another two goals on nine shots in the third period.

"It wasn't anything to do with [Van Beusekom's] play," Kampersal said. "It was that nobody played in front of her. It easily could have been 10-0 at that point.

"Rather than let her get her brain bashed in, we gave her a rest."

At 4:06 into the third period, Princeton showed hope for a comeback with a goal by freshman forward Sarah Butsch, the first of her Princeton career. The score was 5-2, but only momentarily, as New Hampshire netted its sixth goal of the game only 92 seconds later and added another with 4:32 left to play.

Junior forward Susan Hobson tallied the Tigers' final score at 17:25 into the third period, making the score 7-3, as it would remain.

"It's easy to forget how well we played on Saturday when you think about what we did on Sunday," Kampersal said.

The Tigers' next two games are at Mercyhurst. After those, Princeton will return to Baker Rink for a pair of home games, taking on Maine Nov. 30 and then Northeastern Dec. 1.