W. hockey splits first two ECAC contests

Conference play has begun for the No. 8 women's hockey team.

Accumulating a record of 1-1 this weekend on the ice at Baker Rink, the Tigers (2-1-1 overall, 1-1-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) opened their ECAC season with a 3-0 loss to No. 2 Dartmouth on Friday night before ousting the University of Vermont Catamounts, 4-1, Saturday afternoon.

A dominant force in ECAC play the last few years, Dartmouth has consistently proven to be tough competition for Princeton. In their first game against the Big Green last season, the Tigers fell, 4-2, on Dartmouth's home ice. However, the team rallied to beat Dartmouth, 5-2, when the two met just a few months later at Princeton.

Early in the first period, Cherie Piper of Dartmouth got her team going. Four minutes, nine seconds into the first period, Piper maneuvered her way close to the net off assists from teammates Nicole Ruta and Kirsti Anderson and slid the puck past Princeton goalie — junior Roxanne Gaudiel — to put Dartmouth ahead, 1-0. After jumping out to this early lead, the Big Green never looked back.

Just a little over 10 minutes later, the Tigers were on a power play and looked to tie the game, 1-1. Evidently, Dartmouth had other plans. Katie Weatherston of the Big Green took a pass from teammate Cheryl Muranko after a turnover by the Tigers. Weatherston broke away and raced up the ice, facing Gaudiel one-on-one. Weatherston scored, and instead of the game being tied, Dartmouth pulled ahead, 2-0.

Weatherston scored again in the second period on a power play after teammate Meagan Walton passed her the puck in front of the goal on the left side. Weatherston managed to flip the puck past Gaudiel to bump her team's lead up to 3-0. This goal completed the scoring trifecta of even-strength, shorthanded and power-play goals for Dartmouth.

Though the Tigers had their chances to generate goals throughout the game, they had some trouble converting on their power plays. For the game, the Tigers went 0-9 on the power play. Gaudiel kept Princeton in the game with some strong plays in goal, making 12 saves overall in the defeat. The Tigers went into the game against Vermont on Saturday determined to come out with a win.

Senior co-captain and forward Becky Stewart kicked off scoring for the Tigers when she knocked a loose puck into the Catamount goal just 2:10 into the first period of play. However, Vermont seemed to have no intention of going down without a fight. Stephanie Tewksbury evened the score at 19:29 of the first period on a power play shot, sending her team into the first intermission tied with the Tigers at one apiece.

As the Catamounts have only won two conference games since 2001, they were excited to have matched the Tigers in the first period. The Tigers, however, had no plans of losing to Vermont. An explosion in the second period pushed the Tigers ahead as they skated to a clear victory.

Junior forward Sarah Butsch broke the tie 3:09 into the second, taking a pass from sophomore defender Dina McCumber in the left corner and backhanding it past Catamount goalie Kami Cote into the goal, pushing the score to 2-1.

Just 1:40 later, Stewart rocketed a shot past Cote for a power play score to add one more goal to the 3-1 Tiger lead.

Seven minutes later, junior co-captain and forward Heather Jackson banked a wrist shot past Cote from the left side. With the huge scoring surge, the Tigers found themselves up on Vermont, 4-1. By the time the second period was over, any momentum that Vermont had following the first period was quenched.

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The Tigers outshot Vermont, 32-16, for the game. Cote made 28 saves in goal, while Gaudiel made 15 for the Tigers. Princeton fared slightly better in its power plays than it had the night before, converting on two of six opportunities. Vermont's lone goal also came on the power play.

Sophomore forwards Liz Keady and Laura Watt and sophomore defender Dina McCumber each had two assists on the game. Senior defender Katharine Maglione added an assist on Stewart's second goal.