More than one Princeton team was hoping to get to the Final Four over Spring Break, but like the basketball team, the women's hockey team was stymied in its efforts.
In a pair of heartbreaking losses, the women's hockey team saw the end of its season last weekend as it lost to Brown (12-5-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference, 18-11-2 overall) 2-0 in the best-of-three series in the ECAC quarterfinals.
Though Brown had the advantage of playing host to the Tigers (12-6-0, 20-11-0 ), the contest was expected to be fairly even, as the two teams entered the weekend having split the regular season series, 1-1. Both squads also ended the season with similar records and rankings. In fact, Brown only hosted the series because they edged Princeton in the final ECAC standings, placing fourth to the Tigers' fifth.
Brown took the first game from the Tigers, 2-1. The following day, Princeton was in a must-win situation, but lost in overtime, 3-2, despite holding a 2-0 lead in the third period.
The overtime thriller was played on Saturday, March 13, though it had all the makings of a Friday the 13th nightmare.
Presented with their first win-or-go-home game of the year, Princeton did not catch any breaks and spent the ride home from Providence brooding over what could have been.
The contest started out well for the Tigers, as senior forward Lisa Rasmussen scored a goal at 9:32 of the first period, assisted by senior forward Gretchen Anderson. The goal went unanswered by Brown through the rest of the first and the entirety of the second period.
At 5:42 of the third, Anderson and sophomore forward Heather Jackson found Rasmussen again to give Princeton what seemed at the time to be an insurmountable 2-0 lead.
A few minutes later, things started to go wrong.
With less than 10 minutes to play, Brown forwards Margaret Ramsey and Jessica Link each scored a goal only one minute and 18 seconds apart, giving Brown sudden hope and new life.
When time ran out in the third period, the score was still deadlocked at two, and as per the rules for the ECAC playoffs, a sudden-death overtime period ensued.
Princeton's worst fears were realized when, at 8:56 into the overtime period, Link found the nylon behind senior goaltender Megan Van Beusekom to give Brown the series win and advance the Bears to the ECAC Final Four. Brown ended up losing to Harvard, the eventual tournament champion.
In the first game, both teams came out playing hard, though no goals were scored in the first period. Brown took a 1-0 lead in the second, which was matched with a goal by junior defender Katharine Maglione at 11:33 in the third, assisted by freshmen forwards Kim Pearce and Laura Watt.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Brown's Keaton Zucker managed to slip in the game-winning goal past Van Beusekom at 14:15. Van Beusekom finished with more than twice as many saves as Brown goalie, Katie Germain.
Last weekend's games marked the end of the collegiate hockey careers for five Princeton seniors, who will each be sorely missed: Anderson, Rasmussen, Van Beuse-kom, forward Susan Hobson, and defender Angela Gooldy all suited up for the last time.
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