Athlete of the Week

Freshman forward Kim Pearce has been fire on ice recently for women's hockey.

After a chilly start Friday, women's hockey was in a precarious tie with Vermont at the beginning of the third period. That's when Pearce took over.

Thirty seconds after the break, Pearce ripped a shot past Vermont goalie Kami Cote and added her second goal of the night eight minutes later. Her two third-period goals ignited the sputtering Princeton offense and provided the difference in a 3-1 Tiger victory.

The following night, with No. 3 Dartmouth visiting Baker Rink, Pearce supplied the late-game heroics once again. Near the end of the second period, with Princeton looking to pad a two-goal lead, Pearce assisted on senior forward Gretchen Anderson's power-play goal, then she found fellow freshman Elizabeth Keady a minute into the third period to give the Tigers a 5-1 lead the Big Green would never overcome.

Pearce's two-goal, two-assist weekend gave her twenty points for the season. Thirteen of those points have come in Eastern College Athletic Conference play, raising her to second-best in the conference among freshmen.

Pearce has a penchant for big-game performance. Her last two-goal game came on Jan. 30 against conference-leader Harvard. Her coolheaded play is invaluable for the Tigers, who have little room for error if they hope to gain home-ice advantage when the ECAC playoffs begin in two weeks.

For her performance, Kim Pearce has been named The Daily Princetonian Athlete of the Week.