The women's hockey team split a pair of games against No. 8 Mercyhurst this weekend. The Tigers lost a disappointing contest Friday night but came back for a decisive victory in their final regular-season home game on Saturday.
No. 7 Princeton (19-8-0 overall, 11-5-0 Eastern College Atheletic Conference) thought it was ready for the Lakers (23-5-4) when Mercyhurst arrived on Friday, but the Tigers were shocked by a 4-2 loss.
The game was a closely fought battle until shortly into the third period. The score was tied at one after the first period and at two at the end of the second period. At three minutes and 20 seconds into the third period, the Lakers' Sara McDonald broke the tie with a power play goal. A goal from Mercyhurst's Samantha Shirley only 44 seconds later vaulted the Lakers into a two-goal lead that demoralized the Tigers and ultimately gave Mercyhurst the victory.
The two goals scored by the Tigers were bright spots in the game. They came from senior defender Angela Gooldy in the first period and freshman forward Laura Watt in the second.
The loss was especially painful for Princeton, which was coming off a surprising loss to Yale (12-12-3, 8-8-0) last Wednesday.
"Friday's game was hard," senior forward Lisa Rasmussen said. "We just weren't ready to play, and they must have wanted it more than us."
Drawing on the disappointment of losing two consecutive winnable games, Princeton managed to get fired up to win Saturday afternoon's game against the Lakers.
Seniors rise to the challenge
The members of the senior class — Rasmussen, forward Gretchen Anderson, Gooldy and goalkeeper Megan Van Beusekom — led the team to a 3-0 shutout of Mercyhurst in the last regular-season home game of their careers.
Fellow senior Susan Hobson was out due to injury.
Van Beusekom's performance was one of the highlights of the day, as she recorded 40 saves, including 18 in the third period, to give the team its fourth shutout of the season.
"Megan really played a great game on Saturday," Rasmussen said. "She just came up huge for us."
The first goal of the day was scored by Gooldy when she managed to find the net halfway through the first period. It was only Gooldy's third goal of the season. She had scored her second goal the night before.
The 1-0 lead held for the Tigers until the third period, when they opened it up with a goal by Rasmussen at 3:57 and an empty-netter by freshman forward Liz Keady.
With their final regular-season home game over, some would suspect that the seniors are left reflecting over four years of games in Baker Rink. They refused this sentiment, however, staying optimistic about their chances for home ice in the postseason.
Currently, Princeton sits in fifth in the ECAC rankings, one spot shy of earning the right to play at home in the playoffs.
The Tigers, with 22 points, can hope to catch either Brown or Dartmouth, who are fourth and third with 23 and 25 points, respectively.
Next weekend will decide it all, as Princeton will have its chance to get back in the top four with games at No. 10 Brown and No. 1 Harvard.
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