Women's hockey found itself two wins away last weekend from a date with the national championship.
Unfortunately, the team watched the Women's Frozen Four from the dorms as Dartmouth edged Princeton, 4-2, in the Eastern College Athletic Conference semifinals last Saturday at Brown's Meehan Auditorium, ending the Tigers' season.
"We hung with them," junior forward Gretchen Anderson said. "We knew we could beat them since we just had [two weeks] before."
Princeton did hang with the Big Green, but could not beat them. Fourth-ranked and second-seeded Dartmouth (26-8-0), which split the season series with the Tigers, jumped on the board first when forward Krista Dornfried punched a rebound off a shot by forward Sarah Clark past Princeton junior goalie Megan Van Beusekom at six minutes and 42 seconds of the first period. Forward Amy Catlin also recorded an assist on the play.
The third-seeded Tigers (20-9-2) hung around. Less than four minutes later, Princeton pounced on a power play chance as freshman forward Sarah Butsch took a centering pass from junior forward Lisa Rasmussen and beat Big Green goalie Amy Ferguson to tie the game. The goal was also assisted by junior forward Susan Hobson.
Dartmouth, not to be outdone, responded less than two minutes after Butsch's goal when forward Cherie Piper scored on a power play chance, taking a centering pass from defense Correne Bredin and beating Van Beusekom to her glove side.
Down 2-1, the Tigers needed the next goal. They did not get it.
Forward Tiffany Hagge pushed the Big Green lead to 3-1 at 2:59 of the second when she capitalized on a rebound off the stick of forward Katie Weatherston.
Three minutes later, the Tigers had a golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 power play, but the combined efforts of the Dartmouth penalty kill unit and Ferguson kept Princeton off the scoreboard.
Senior forward Andrea Kilbourne cut the lead to 3-2 with her 18th goal of the season at 7:28 of the third period. Anderson fed a pass to senior forward Nikola Holmes, who brought the puck up and fed Kilbourne, who beat Ferguson through the five-hole.
The Tigers would not get any closer. Forward Gillian Apps flipped the puck in an empty net with 1:10 to go to seal the win for the Big Green.
"We didn't get the lucky breaks," Anderson said. "We didn't get as many offensive opportunities as we needed."
Dartmouth outshot Princeton, 34-24, in the win. Ferguson made 22 saves, and Van Beusekom saved 30 shots.
The Tigers reached the semifinals with a sweep of Yale a week earlier.
Senior forward Andrea Kilbourne led the way for Princeton with two goals and two assists in the 6-2 win March 7. Junior forward Gretchen Anderson added a goal and three assists as the Tigers erupted for a three-goal second period. Princeton outshot Yale, 36-16.
It got worse the next night for the Elis. The Tigers got two goals and an assist from junior defense Angela Gooldy, two goals from Anderson and two assists from Kilbourne in an 8-0 shutout. Princeton scored three times again in the second period and four in the third.
A banner year
It was a historic year for Princeton, which finished the season ranked ninth in the country and had never before won 20 games in a season in its 24 years of competition. The Tigers' 20-9-2 mark was also the best winning percentage recorded since the 1994-95 season, in which the team went 17-6-1.
This team was Jeff Kampersal '92's best in his seven seasons as head coach, and it essentially came within one goal of earning a shot at the conference championship.
Crocheting for wins
"It's sad that it's come to an end," Anderson said. "I've been here three years, and every year we've had better chemistry, communication and friendship. We're a close-knit bunch."
Four seniors will leave the team this season and put a little strain on that knitting. Kilbourne, sisters Annamarie and Nikola Holmes, and goalie Sarah Ahlquist all played in their final games last Saturday.
Next on the schedule for the rest of the Tigers: take a break, reknit, and figure out how to follow a memorable 2002-2003 campaign.
In the national championship game last night, Harvard fell to the University of Minnesota at Deluth, 4-3 in overtime. It is UMD's third straight national championship.
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