With third place in the conference at stake and just over three minutes left on the clock, freshman forward Sarah Butsch knocked the puck into the goal on Saturday to put women's hockey ahead of Dartmouth and secure a 3-2 upset over the Big Green.
The next day, the Tigers finished their regular season with a bang, handily defeating Eastern College Athletic Conference cellar-dweller Vermont, 5-0.
With these two wins, Princeton improved to 18-8-2 overall and 11-5-0 in the conference, earning the third seed in next week's ECAC tournament.
No. 4 Dartmouth came into Saturday's game with a formidable 11-3-0 conference record, a 21-6-0 overall record, a five-game winning streak, and a well-rounded lineup to back up those numbers.
But just over eight minutes into the first period, Princeton drew first blood. The Tigers scored first when senior forward Nikola Holmes redirected a shot taken by her sister, senior defender Annamarie Holmes, and assisted by junior forward Gretchen Anderson, to open the scoring.
Nikola Holmes scored again nine minutes into the second period, again assisted by Anderson, on a power play.
At this point in the game the Big Green had outshot the Tigers 31-17, but the Tigers led, 2-0.
In fact, in the first nine minutes of the second period, before Holmes scored, the Big Green had taken 16 shots, while the Tigers had taken only two.
But Princeton's Van Beusekom blocked those shots, keeping Dartmouth off the scoreboard. Overall, Van Beusekom blocked 32 shots on the afternoon, while the Big Green's Amy Ferguson stopped 20.
Eventually, though, two of Dartmouth's shots got past the Tiger defense and Van Beusekom. The Big Green tied things up with goals at 19 minutes, one second into the second period and 0:54 into the third.
But even though Princeton was outshot 34-23, the Tigers were able to pull out the win.
After the Big Green's goal early in the third period, neither team was able to get the puck into the net for almost 10 minutes – though not for lack of trying. Before Butsch scored, Dartmouth had taken 14 shots and Princeton had taken 12. But the teams remained knotted at two goals each. And then Butsch's goal, assisted by sophomore forward Becky Stewart and freshman forward Tarah Clark, ended the drought, putting the Tigers ahead, 3-2.
Now trailing, the Big Green took nine frantic shots in the game's final three minutes.
But the Tiger defense, and Van Beusekom, didn't allow any of them by, preserving the victory for Princeton.
Before this weekend, head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 predicted that these games would come down to goalkeeping and special teams.
Indeed, Princeton's defense and capitalization on the power play, combined with Butsch's heroics, proved key against the Big Green.
The Tigers skated onto the ice this weekend for their final two regular season games knowing that two wins would secure a third-place finish in the league, and beating Dartmouth was the first step towards that goal.
Second step of the sweep
Predictably, the second step — the next day's contest with Vermont — was less of a challenge. The Tigers got off to a fast start against the Catamounts with a goal by Anderson just over five minutes into the game, assisted by Nikola Holmes and senior forward Andrea Kilbourne. Princeton didn't let up the rest of the game, shutting out the Catamounts, 5-0. Nikola Holmes, Anderson, and junior forward Susan Hobson each scored during the second period, and Stewart sealed the win with the fifth goal just over six minutes into the third.
Van Beusekom's services were not desperately needed in Sunday's matchup, as Princeton outshot Vermont, 48-9. All nine of the Catamounts' shots were stopped by the Tigers' goalies. Van Beusekom stopped three over the first two periods. Senior Sarah Ahlquist, in her final home game as a Tiger, stepped in for the third period to block six more.
With these two victories, Princeton clinched not just the third seed but also home ice in the first round of the ECAC tournament. The Tigers will host Yale at Baker Rink in a best-of-three series next weekend.
The Elis also wrapped up their regular season this weekend, defeating Vermont, 1-0, on Saturday, then falling to Dartmouth, 5-1. With a 5-11-2 conference record and a 9-18-2 overall record, Yale finished in sixth place in the conference.
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