After splitting the season series with Yale, women's hockey played the Eastern College Athletic Conference quarterfinals like it had something to prove.
Princeton more than proved it, blowing out the Bulldogs, 6-2, Friday and 8-0 Saturday to sweep the best-of-three series and advance to the conference semifinals.
Trying to make amends for an upset loss on their home ice to Harvard a year ago, the Tigers (20-8-2) got two goals from senior forward Andrea Kilbourne as they cruised to a 6-2 win in game one.
Third-seeded Princeton dominated play early, not allowing sixth-seeded Yale (9-20-2) to get a shot on goal until five minutes, 33 seconds had elapsed in the first period.
Kilbourne scored her first at 11:59 in the opening period. Junior forward Gretchen Anderson brought the puck up on a two-on-one break, skated left, and slid a pass across the crease to a cutting Kilbourne, who punched it past Bulldog goalie Sarah Love.
But Yale would not go quietly. Forward Erin Duggan scored a power play goal with 2:08 left in the period, sneaking a shot by junior goalie Megan Van Beusekom.
The second period was a different story. Princeton came out with a flurry of pressure, and found the net just 2:37 into the period. Kilbourne backed the puck in and sent a pass to Anderson, who hit senior forward Nikola Holmes in front for the goal.
Three minutes later, junior forward Lisa Rasmussen rebounded a shot by junior forward Susan Hobson to make it 3-1.
Anderson added a power play goal 10 minutes later, taking a pass across the crease from Kilbourne and beating Love.
The Tigers had control, heading to the locker room with a 4-1 lead.
"Yale is very good," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. "They have a lot of young, talented players. But they only play two lines, and over time we wore them down."
In the third, the Tigers finished the job. Yale could not manage a shot until over five minutes in, but the Bulldogs still got the first goal when forward Deena Caplette capitalized on a power play at 10:51.
That is as close as Yale would get. Kilbourne scored on a power play just one minute later, and Nikola Holmes scored off a rebound at 7:10 to ice the four-goal win.
Van Beusekom needed just 14 saves for the win.
"In the first game we had a lot of cross-ice passes for one-timers and back-door chances," Kampersal said. "We moved the puck well."
Apparently not satisfied with the first game performance, Princeton embarrassed the Bulldogs in game two, getting two goals each from Anderson and junior defense Angela Gooldy in an 8-0 rout.
Yale came out more aggressively Saturday, but had its momentum crushed when a potential goal at 13:35 of the first was disallowed because of a player in the crease.
A minute later, Gooldy rebounded a shot by senior defense Annamarie Holmes to put the Tigers up, 1-0.
The first period ended that way, but Princeton again racked up a three-goal second period to deflate the hopes of its pesky foes.
Just 22 seconds in, Anderson skated in on a breakaway, put a shot on net, fell down, and knocked the goalie over as the rebound trickled in. Hobson scored her second at 4:15, and Gooldy made it 4-0 with a slap shot from the point at 12:59.
But the Tigers bested themselves in the third, erupting for four more goals. Nikola Holmes, Anderson, and freshman forwards Sarah Greer and Sarah Butsch all beat Love as Yale's season melted away.
The second game was marred by penalties. As the score got uglier, so did the play. An amazing 28 penalties were handed out, 12 to the Bulldogs and 16 to Princeton. Yale was 0-11 on the power play, the Tigers just 2-8.
"Certain penalties need to be addressed," Kampersal said. "We can't take those next week. But we average six penalties a game, so to have 16 called on us is atrocious."
Van Beusekom made 20 saves and added a playoff shutout to her impressive resumé. Freshman Roxanne Gaudiel played the last 6:45 and recorded one save. Love made 27 saves for the Bulldogs.
Dartmouth defeated Colgate this weekend and will be Princeton's opponent in a one-game semifinal Sunday afternoon at Brown. Harvard and Brown will play in the other semifinal.
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