After a defeat at the hands of No. 8 St. Lawrence, the No. 10 Princeton women's hockey team (10-5-3 overall, 4-4-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) hoped to remedy the loss with a strong victory over Clarkson. The Tigers got their wish with a 3-0 win over the Golden Knights on Saturday after falling just a goal shy to the Saints on Friday.
Coming off a night in which the Princeton defense allowed three goals to St. Lawrence (14-3-3, 3-1-1 ECACHL), the Tigers responded by surrendering just 19 shots on goal against Clarkson (6-8-5, 2-5-1 ECACHL), including none in the first period. Tiger junior goalie Roxanne Gaudiel turned them all aside to record her fifth shutout of the season.
"When people play Clarkson, it's usually a one-goal game," Gaudiel said. "To beat them 3-0 shows we are a solid team all the way around."
The offense did its part, too, outshooting the Golden Knights, 14-0, in the first period. Only two of those shots came in the first 10 minutes, and the third was a charm for the Tigers and forward Sarah Butsch, as the junior scored at the 11-minute, 47-second mark, her third goal of the season.
Princeton extended its lead late in the second period on a junior forward Tarah Clark power-play goal, her second goal in as many games. The Tigers outshot Clarkson, 13-8, in the period.
The third period featured more of the same from Princeton as sophomore forward Laura Watt capped off the scoring when she scored off of her own rebound less than a minute into the final period.
The Tigers ended the night 1-for-5 on the power play and shut down Clarkson's special-teams unit on three opportunities. Princeton out shot the Golden Knights by 15 shots for the game.
A night earlier, Princeton found itself on the opposite side of the stat sheet against St. Lawrence. Outshot 41-22 for the game, the Tigers played from behind for the majority of the game. Clark and sophomore Liz Keady scored Princeton's only goals.
The Saints burned the Tigers for two goals in the first 20 minutes. Rebecca Russell started the scoring less than seven minutes into the game with a one-timer from the far post past Gaudiel for her 14th goal of the season. Russell struck again, just three minutes later, when she beat Gaudiel again from the far post.
Trailing 2-0 after one period, Princeton finally got on the scoreboard at the 14:35 mark in the second period cutting the Saints' lead to 2-1. Keady slid the puck past St. Lawrence goaltender Meaghan Guckian for her seventh goal of the season. Only two minutes later, however, Chelsea Grills scored what proved to be the game-winning goal to extend St. Lawrence's lead to two goals.
Clark kept Princeton's slim hopes alive when she scored a shorthanded goal with less than 20 seconds to play in the second period. Clark one-timed the loose puck in front of the net past Guckian for the goal.
With 13:12 to play in the game, the Tigers appeared to have tied the game after the puck ended up in the back of the net during a scramble in front of the goaltender. The officials, however, disallowed the goal, claiming that it had been kicked into the net, and St. Lawrence hung on for the win.
"With exams, it is really tough to focus," Gaudiel said, "but I thought we did a pretty good job with the exception of the first period against St. Lawrence. Everyone needs to be more consistent and play every period like it's the last."
Due to exams, Princeton will not play again for three weeks. The team resumes play at the end of January against Harvard and Brown.
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