Dartmouth, Vermont to face women's hockey

The postseason tournament is still two weeks away, but what happens this weekend, the final weekend of regular season play, will largely decide how the 2002-03 women's hockey team will go down in the history books.

Saturday, Princeton hosts one of its most formidable foes in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference — Dartmouth, currently second in the conference and No. 4 in the nation.

Sunday, the Tigers host a team from the same area of the world as Dartmouth, but at the opposite end of the league standings — Vermont.

Without going into every possible scenario, the best and worst cases are these: if the Tigers win both games, they will finish the season tied for third place in the league. If they lose both, and Brown wins both of its games (a likely possibility given that Brown has two relatively easy opponents this weekend, Colgate and Cornell), Princeton will fall to fifth place.

That would be quite a disappointing finish for what has been a more or less successful season.

"These two games are crucial for us," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. "If we take four points (by winning both) we can finish third in our league, and so that's definitely our goal for the weekend."

Kampersal added, "I think this weekend it will come down to special teams and goaltending, and whoever is better in those two areas will win."

By that barometer, or by almost any other, Princeton (16-8-2 overall, 9-5-0 ECAC) will face a steep challenge on Saturday when Dartmouth comes to town.

Big Green (21-6-0, 11-3-0) goaltender Amy Ferguson is ranked second in the conference, with a 1.80 goals against average and the highest save percentage (.929) in the league.

Princeton's junior goalie Megan Van Beusekom is fifth, with 257 saves for a .915 save percentage and a 2.48 GAA in conference play.

Dartmouth's offense is ranked third in the ECAC, and its defense is second.

Where the Big Green might be somewhat more vulnerable is in the area of special teams. Its power play is ranked fifth in the league while Princeton's is ranked second. However, Dartmouth is second to Princeton's fourth in penalty killing percentage.

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But after getting over the Dartmouth hump, whether with a win or a loss, the Tigers should have less of an uphill battle in Vermont.

The Catamounts (3-23-2, 0-13-1) are currently in ninth place in the ECAC and, in their most recent action, were shut out by St. Lawrence twice in a row last weekend, 11-0 and 7-0.

Nonetheless, the Tigers cannot afford to underestimate either of their opponents this weekend. The last time Princeton and Vermont met, the Tigers won, 4-0 — a solid victory, but not quite double digits. The next day, Princeton lost to Dartmouth by the same score.

"Dartmouth is a loaded team, and Vermont always plays us tough as well. So we'll have our hands full," Kampersal said.

"I'm confident that we're going to show up and play well and see what happens."

In addition to their importance as key determinants of the overall character of the Tigers' season, these games hold emotional value as well. They will mark the final home games for the class of 2003, which has made quite a mark on the Princeton program over the past four years.

The class of 2003 includes such standouts as forward Nikola Holmes and defender Annamarie Holmes, sisters from Apple Valley, Minn., who have garnered numerous honors during their time at Princeton.

The team's other seniors are goalie Sarah Ahlquist and forward Andrea Kilbourne. Kilbourne joined the class of 2003 after taking a year off to play for the U.S. national team in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"This weekend is always an emotional weekend for us," Kampersal said.

"Some of the best players in the program's history are leaving. It's always a celebratory day, but at the same time, it's a sad day for me personally."