If you can't win a battle when you have an extra fighter, then the war is going to be tough.
Women's hockey was 0-9 on power play opportunities in its two games against St. Lawrence (9-4-1 overall, 4-0-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) this weekend while the visiting Saints went 4-12 and swept Princeton (7-5-0, 2-3-0) out of Baker Rink with a 2-1 win Friday and a 3-1 win Saturday.
On Friday, forward Gina Kingsbury starred for St. Lawrence, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win that came down to the final play.
First score
Kingsbury struck at 11 minutes, 16 seconds of the first period when she took a rebound off a shot from teammate Laurie Ross and flung it off senior goalie Megan Van Beusekom's pads and into the net to give St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers responded with an excellent second period, outplaying the Saints and tying the game at 8:24 when freshman forward Kim Pearce collected a loose puck on the right side of the net and forced a backhand to ricochet off St. Lawrence goalie Rachel Barrie's leg pad and into the net.
Both goalies fought off additional scoring chances, and the game went to the third tied at one.
At 16:46 of the final frame, Van Beusekom was whistled for a holding penalty that would prove fatal for Princeton. On the ensuing power play, the Saints' Rebecca Russell ripped a shot at Van Beusekom. She made the save, but the puck trickled to Kingsbury on the right side, and the game's first star had an easy finish to give her team a 2-1 lead.
The Tigers tried to rally late, pulling Van Beusekom to get an extra skater. On the final rush of the game, sophomore forward Heather Jackson sent a shot on net with less than ten seconds to play, and Princeton crashed the crease. As sticks flew, the puck crossed the goal line, but the officials ruled the play dead because the net had come off its moorings. The Saints held on for the 2-1 win.
"The puck went in before the whistle blew," head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. "I knew that for sure. I don't know if it went in before the net went off. Once [the referee] makes that decision, there's not much you can say."
Saturday night, it was Emilie Berlinguette who scored two goals for St. Lawrence. Barrie made 35 saves as the Saints got their second-straight win over Princeton, topping the Tigers, 3-1.
St. Lawrence started off strong thanks to an early Princeton penalty. After sophomore forward Becky Stewart went to the box for body-checking at 3:33 of the first period, Berlinguette scored her first goal of the game, taking a pass from Rickie-Lee Doyle and pushing a wrist shot past Van Beusekom's right skate for a 1-0 lead.
Nearly eight minutes later, Kingsbury, the hero in her team's win Friday night, struck again on a wraparound on a power play at 11:16, just twelve seconds after the Tiger penalty.

The Princeton offense picked up late in the second period — a period which Kampersal thought his team dominated — but neither team scored in the middle frame.
Rasmussen scores
The Tigers cut the deficit in half at 6:29 of the third when senior forward Lisa Rasmussen took a centering pass from sophomore forward Tarah Clark and stuffed the puck past Barrie's left pad.
"Rasmussen worked hard all weekend," Kampersal said. "She had many chances to score. I'm glad she finally got one. She deserved that for the work she put in."
Unfinished business
But the St. Lawrence power play unit was not done.
With Princeton frantically working to get the equalizer, Berlinguette struck again, this time tipping a slap shot from Abbie Bullard that dropped in the right side of the net just before a hooking penalty to Tiger senior forward Gretchen Anderson expired. With three minutes left, the Saints had a 3-1 lead on three power play goals.
"They switched up their power play from the night before," Kampersal said. "We pretty much shut them down last night and then they went into a simple overload. We let them score those two quick goals and we didn't make the adjustments quick enough."
The Tigers picked up the tempo again and pulled Van Beusekom to get an extra skater for much of the final two minutes, but St. Lawrence held on for the two-goal win.
"Overall for the weekend our kids played their hearts out," Kampersal said. "Like the Kid Rock song, you get what you put in and people get what they deserve, but it didn't work out that way for us."