A year ago, women's hockey captured home-ice advantage in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs, only to lose the best-of-three series in a sweep to Harvard.
This year, Princeton — the third seed in the ECAC tournament — is back at Baker Rink for round one, and the collapse against the Crimson is a distant memory.
Sixth-seeded Yale visits campus for this year's best-of-three conference quarterfinal starting tonight, continuing Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday. The Elis finished just 9-18-2 overall and 5-11-0 in the ECAC.
First game vs. Elis
In the first meeting of the home-and-home series over Valentine's Day weekend, Princeton (18-8-2, 11-5-0) looked like the superior team in its 6-2 win.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead just six minutes and 37 seconds into the game on a goal from senior forward Andrea Kilbourne. A three-goal second period then buried the Elis as Princeton took a 4-1 lead into the intermission and once again bested Yale in the third period to cruise to a four-goal win.
Head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 has placed an emphasis on winning every period, and though the Tigers were able to do that in their first meeting with the Elis, the strategy may have jinxed Princeton for the rematch.
"That win was too easy, and we weren't ready in that second game," Kilbourne said.
It showed, as Yale caught the Tigers napping and beat them, 3-1, in New Haven the next night.
After a scoreless first period, junior defense Angela Gooldy punched in Princeton's lone goal in the second frame, but the Elis came out roaring in the third and scored three times on five shots to make their point.
"We underestimated them last time. We weren't ready for them to have that fight in them again," Kilbourne said.
Despite the slip-up, Princeton knows it can put together a solid weekend of play and has the stats to back it up.
Princeton scored 87 goals on the season to Yale's 70, but the bigger disparity comes in goals allowed. The Tigers let just 55 pucks into their net, while the Elis allowed 98 goals.
Junior Megan Van Beusekom has the nation's seventh-best save percentage (.924) and is 14th with a 2.21 goals against average.
The Tigers will need continued production from their top scorers — Kilbourne and junior forward Gretchen Anderson — to back up Van Beusekom's talents.
Sarah Love guarded the net for Yale in both games against Princeton and made a total of 69 saves.
Nicole Symington (one goal, one assist) and Deena Caplette (three assists) were the only Elis to record multiple points in the contests.
On paper, Princeton is clearly the better team. On paper.
"Yale's a good team," Kilbourne said. "But now that we lost we won't underestimate them again. In a way it is better that we lost that game because we know we'll be ready this time."
Harvard, the team that was still on the rise last year and upset Princeton in the four-five matchup, is now the top seed in the conference tournament and should have an easy time with eighth-seeded Cornell in round one.
Dartmouth, the team Princeton beat last weekend to lock up the third seed, is No. 2 in the tournament and will host Colgate. The Tigers will play the winner of that series.
St. Lawrence is the fourth seed and will host fifth-seeded Brown, with the winner likely to face Harvard.
'Mission'
"Since [the loss to Yale], we have been on a mission all the way through the Harvard game up until now," Kampersal said.
And so the mission has brought them here, back to Baker for the second year in a row, favorites for the second year in a row, and with something to prove for the second year in a row.
Game one is tonight. This game represents the start of what could be something big for a Tiger team still cast as the middle child of the ECAC, the team one or two steps away from being a national powerhouse. It has been this team's goal to secure home-ice advantage in round one and go from there. They achieved the first part.
"It is so nice to be at home," Kil-bourne said of the first-round series.
As nice as it is, it would be far nicer to be at Brown, where the semifinal and final rounds will be played, with a championship trophy hoisted on their shoulders.
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