W. hockey heads north to face ECAC foe St. Lawrence

There's no place like home for women's hockey. With last weekend's tie with Maine and win over Northeastern, Princeton is 5-0-1 on home ice. But this weekend, the Tigers must travel out of the friendly confines of Baker Rink to Canton, N.Y., for a challenging doubleheader against St. Lawrence.

Princeton (6-2-2 overall, 2-0-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) has faced a number of tough opponents this season, including New Hampshire, ranked No. 6 nationally. But St. Lawrence will be the team's "first big league challenge," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said.

The Tigers have played the fewest conference games of any ECAC team — compare their 2-0 conference record with that of Dartmouth, which leads the ECAC at 6-2-0. And Princeton's two conference wins thus far have both come at home, against Colgate and Cor-nell. So this weekend's games — scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. — will be a chance for Princeton to move up in the ECAC standings, as well as improve its 1-2-1 record on the road and prove its mettle outside of New Jersey.

The Saints and the Tigers hover very close to each other in both conference standings and national rankings. St. Lawrence (7-3-2, 3-1-0), currently tied for third in the conference with Brown, is ranked No. 5 in the most recent national poll; Princeton is ranked No. 10 nationally and tied for fifth in the conference with Colgate.

But beating the Saints will be no easy task. As Kampersal said after last weekend's games, "It'll be a difficult test." St. Lawrence is led offensively by Shannon Smith and former Canadian National Team member Gina Kingsbury, who have a combined 25 points. On the other side of the ice, Saints goalie Rachel Barrie is the reigning ECAC Goalie of the Week after recording her first shutout of the season in the Saints' second game against Dartmouth last weekend.

St. Lawrence split its two games against the Big Green, losing the first, 3-2, but coming back to win the second, 1-0. In these two games, Barrie stopped 90 of 93 shots to post a .968 save percentage and a 1.51 goals againts average. On the season she has a .927 save percentage and a 2.04 GAA.

The Saints' only other losses this season were both at the hands of defending national champion Minnesota.

Marching

Needless to say, the Tigers will need to be ready when the Saints go skating in.

But Princeton brings plenty of momentum to its third conference matchup of the season, coming off its 6-2 win over Northeastern last Sunday. The Tigers were especially satisfied with their play against the Huskies after skating to a frustrating 2-2 tie with Maine the day before.

Junior forward Gretchen Anderson was a major factor in that win. Back in action after an early-season wrist injury, she was named ECAC Player of the Week after her strong showing in last weekend's games, netting a hat trick against Northeastern as well as a goal against Maine. Anderson leads the team in goals, with five on the season, despite having only played in four games. Anderson is not back to 100 percent yet, "but she's getting there," Kampersal said after last weekend's games.

The Tigers are also led offensively by senior forward Andrea Kilbourne, a 2002 U.S. Olympian, who leads the team in points with three goals and eight assists, and sophomore forward Rebecca Stewart, with three goals and seven assists.

Stewart netted a goal against Maine in the first two minutes of play.

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Finally, junior goalie Megan Van Beusekom should be equal to Barrie's challenge in goal, with her .928 save percentage and miniscule 1.91 GAA.

When the Tigers faced Maine last Saturday, they came out scoring but were lulled into complacency by the third period and allowed the Black Bears to catch up. Against Northeastern the next day, they were a far more determined and cohesive team.

Consistency

Princeton should have no trouble competing with St. Lawrence; the only question mark is whether or not the Tigers can maintain the winning drive they displayed against Northeastern and defeat St. Lawrence.

"It will be tough going on the road, playing back to back at seven [Friday] night and four the next day," Kampersal said.

"But we've practiced well all week, and so we feel good going into the weekend. It's like looking at a mirror: both teams are evenly matched. Goaltending is good, D is good, and both teams have some impact players to put points on the board. It's a matter of who executes and who doesn't."