W. hockey keeps rolling with weekend wins

The women's hockey team completed its second straight weekend sweep on Saturday at home against Colgate (15-12-2 overall, 6-8-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) after defeating Cornell (4-17-0, 1-13-0) the night before. Princeton (16-6-0, 9-4-0) looked impressive in both games, as the Tigers defeated the Big Red 4-1 and the Raiders 3-1.

The Cornell victory was expected, as the struggling Big Red came into the contest with a 1-11 conference record and had only won four games the entire season.

The win for Princeton, however, didn't come easily, as Cornell hung tough for most of the game. The Big Red actually got on the board first at 3:48 of the opening period. The goal came from the left side on a deflected shot that slowly slid past senior goalie Megan van Beusekom.

The Tiger defense locked it down from that point on, and they did not surrender another goal for the remainder of the game. Once again, Princeton held a significant edge in shot attempts as they fired 41 times compared to Cornell's 14. They held a similar edge in last weekend's wins against Union, and that advantage usually spells a victory for the Tigers.

The lack of shot attempts for the Big Red was a result of them rarely having the puck anywhere near their offensive zone. The Princeton defense did an excellent job of preventing any scoring opportunities while the offense succeeded in keeping the puck in the attacking zone for extended periods of time throughout the game.

This enabled the offense to put up a number of shots, sometimes several on one possession. Sophomore forward Sarah Butsch led the offense in the game, scoring two goals.

It was sophomore forward Heather Jackson, however, who started the scoring on the night by launching a shot over the goalie's glove that found the top right corner of the net. The goal came on a cross-ice pass from senior forward Gretchen Anderson.

Butsch took charge after that, as she knocked in two goals in a row, one in the first stanza, one in the second. The second was an impressive slap shot from just past the blue line that rocketed past the goalie and found the left side of the net.

The two Butsch goals made the score 3-1, however it wasn't until senior forward Lisa Rasmussen knocked in a goal in the third period that the Tigers were assured of victory. Her goal came at 14:38 in the third and brought the score to the final 4-1 mark.

On Saturday afternoon, Princeton welcomed Colgate to Baker Rink, looking to keep the momentum going. The Raiders came in having dropped three consecutive games and were looking to end their losing streak. But the Tigers wouldn't allow it.

It was almost a shutout for Van Beusekom, who didn't allow a goal until the final second of the game, as a deflection shot slipped over her glove at the 20:00 mark, much to the dismay of her Tiger teammates. Other than that, the goalie stopped the rest of the 17 shots against her, and collected her 12th victory of the season against only six losses.

The offense spread out the glory as three different players scored for Princeton. Jackson, Rasmussen, and freshman forward Laura Watt each scored one goal for the Tigers. Rasmussen scored first at the 5 :49 mark. Jackson's goal came on a one-on-one in the second period to push the score to 2-0. Watt's goal also came in the same period, and assured a victory. Head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 commented on the team's style of play.

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"We played with good emotion," Kampersal said, "and when we play with heart and grit, we're a tough team to beat."

Once again, the stat of the game was the shot advantage that Princeton held over its opponent. This time, they outshot Colgate 35-18. Looking back at the past four games, all victories, the Tigers have outshot their opponents by a combined total of 186-56.

Princeton is home again next weekend, facing weakling Vermont (6-20-2, 2-10-2) and sliding Dartmouth (17-4-2, 9-2-1), their first of five remaining games against top-10 teams.