W. hockey falls to Dartmouth in game with 22 penalties

The women's hockey team left unseasonably warm New Jersey this weekend for frigid New England to open up the Eastern College Athletic Conference portion of its schedule against Dartmouth (7-0 overall, 2-0 ECAC) and Vermont (3-9-1, 0-4-0). The Tigers trounced the Catamounts on Saturday, 5-1, but could not freeze Dartmouth's hot streak and fell to the Big Green, 4-2, on Friday night.

No. 9 Princeton (5-3, 1-1) first tried to upend No. 2 Dartmouth in Thompson Arena, the Big Green's home rink. The game quickly became one extended special teams exercise, as Princeton was whistled for 10 penalties on the night and Dartmouth was sent to the sin bin 12 times.

"There's a new obstruction rule that they're cracking down on, so they warned us before the game that they were going to be really strict about that," senior defender Susan Hobson said. "They made a lot of calls that we weren't used to. By the third period it got a little ridiculous. It really interrupted the flow of the game."

Head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 agreed, saying that "It was like being in Math 103 again, trying to figure out if it was a power play, a four-on-four, a four-on-three, or whatever."

While both teams were usually either shorthanded or up a player, Dartmouth built a 2-0 lead through two periods on the strength of two even-strength goals.

After the two teams played back and forth throughout the first period, the Big Green's Sarah Clark found herself alone on the doorstep of the Princeton goal. Katie Weatherston sent her a pass and Clark converted, zinging the puck past senior goaltender Megan Van Beusekom for a 1-0 Dartmouth lead at 17 minutes, nine seconds of the first period.

After Princeton was unable to make good on two power plays that sandwiched the first intermission, the Big Green once again found itself camped out in front of Van Beusekom. Although this time the Big Green forwards were not alone on top of the crease, Weatherston was able to get her stick on the puck and shove it to the back of the Tiger net to double Dartmouth's lead at 4:53.

Princeton was on the defensive for much of the rest of the period, but managed to keep comeback hopes alive with only a two-goal deficit.

Van Beusekom came up big with senior forward Lisa Rasmussen in the box when she went head-to-head with Clark in a good old-fashioned game of chicken. As Clark skated in alone on Van Beusekom, both waited for the other to make the first move. Clark blinked first, sending a low shot towards the Tiger goalie which Van Beusekom deflected out of harm's way, keeping Princeton within striking distance.

Comeback

After Dartmouth's Gillian Apps — daughter of NHL standout Syl M. Apps '70 and sister of recent graduate Syl C. Apps '99 — scored a power play goal 40 seconds into the third period, Princeton fought back and got on the scoreboard when senior forward Gretchen Anderson banged in the rebound off a shot by junior forward Becky Stewart at 1:58.

Princeton had several more quality opportunities in the final frame, but was not able to convert until Rasmussen found herself alone in front of the Big Green goaltender. Rasmussen easily lit the lamp, cutting the score to 3-2 with 6:07 remaining in the game. Dartmouth would tack on a final goal with just over a minute remaining for a final score of 4-2.

"We were actually in their end more than they were in ours," Hobson said. "Both sides had quality shots and it just came down to who capitalized on them and who didn't."

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The Tigers carried their energy from Friday night into Saturday's contest at Vermont, against whom Princeton is 6-0 all-time.

The Catamounts once again proved an easy mark for Princeton, and Anderson opened the scoring only five minutes into the first period. Minutes later, Hobson scored what would stand up as the game-winning goal in the contest when she tipped in the puck from right in front of the net. Princeton scored twice more in the second period before sophomore forward Heather Jackson rounded out the Tiger scoring in the third to bring the final score to 5-1.

"We played a great game Saturday, very quick-paced," Hobson said. "It was very important to us to come out just as up for this game as we were against Dartmouth the night before. We pretty much dominated the game, everybody was working hard and we got all four lines going."