Princeton knocks off Big Green

Trailing Harvard by two goals with one minute, 14 seconds remaining to play on Nov. 5, the women's hockey team pulled its goalie for a sixth skater — and the risky tactic yielded results.

Senior forward Sarah Butsch punched the puck into the back of the net, with the handy assist going to junior defender Dina McCumber. Unfortunately for Princeton, the rally fell just short, and it fell, 3-2, in its final Fall Break contest.

"We were a bit tired in the Harvard game, and we didn't really perform well," head coach Jeff Kampersal said. "Harvard came out and executed much better than we did."

Despite the loss, the Tigers (2-1-1 overall, 1-1 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Hockey League) put together a quality start to their season. Princeton played a total of four games over Fall Break. The Tigers were 2-0-1 heading into Saturday's match against Harvard (3-0-0) after skating to a tie against Boston College (3-1-3) and earning 'W's in games against Vermont (0-8-2) and Dartmouth (2-2-0).

The season began with a trip to Buffalo, N.Y., to compete in the Nichols Tournament the weekend before Halloween. Princeton got its fair share of tricks played upon them, mostly in the form of power-play goals, but the Tigers made sure to return the favors. On the whole, the weekend was a sweet one, with a 2-2 tie against Boston College and a 2-1 overtime victory over Vermont.

The game against the Eagles got off to a slow start, with both teams skating to a scoreless first period. The second period, however, opened up with a bang, as junior defender Kate Hession ripped a shot past BC's goalie one minute, 45 seconds in for a 1-0 lead. The Eagles didn't wait long to retaliate, however, as they furiously rallied mere minutes later with a goal by Sarah Feldman on the power play.

The power-play goal was to be just the first of many while the penalty kill unit was on the ice.

Princeton again moved to take the lead at the end of the second period when junior forward Alison Ralph put one in the net for a 2-1 lead.

The Tigers were clinging to the lead going into the third period, but with time winding down, BC scored yet again on the power play.

Neither team could notch a point during the overtime period, so the teams skated to a 2-2 tie.

The next match turned out more favorably for Princeton, as the Tigers played a hotly-contested match against Vermont.

With the score knotted at one through regulation and almost all of overtime, junior forward Kim Pearce put one past the Catamounts' goalie with only 32 seconds, sealing a 2-1 OT victory.

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Pearce played a solid game for Princeton, as she accounted for all of the Tigers' offensive output. She had tallied her other goal in the second period to put Princeton up by a 1-0 score.

Vermont's only goal came, unsurprisingly, while the Catamounts were on the power play. All three of the goals scored on the Tigers during the Nichols Tournament, in fact, came on a power play. Kampersal acknowledged that the special units are greatly lacking, at least for the time being.

"We need to improve our power play and penalty killing units in a hurry," Kampersal said.

Princeton had one week before it was back on the ice against Dartmouth in an Ivy League battle. The Tigers' offense lay dormant most of the night; Princeton faced a 1-0 deficit late in the second period when sophomore forward Marykate Oakley evened things up.

Then the real fireworks began.

The Tigers offense burst onto the scene in the third period. Playing shorthanded, senior forward and captain Tarah Clark willed Princeton to a 2-1 lead. Shortly thereafter, freshman forward Annie Greenwood added an insurance goal to what ended up as a final score of 3-1. The Big Green's only goal came at even strength, as the Tigers finally found a way to counter their bane thus far: penalty killing. Pearce also turned in a strong performance for Princeton with two assists.

"I thought the Dartmouth game was our best overall effort," Kampersal said.

Following their win over Dartmouth was the Tigers' narrow miss against Harvard, despite the fact that they outshot the Crimson, 32-21, ending an otherwise successful break series on a sour note.

Yet Princeton certainly showed promise. One player who has been key for the Tigers so far is senior forward Chrissie Norwich, who was absent for much of last year's season.

"Chrissie Norwich has been great for us," Kampersal said. "She missed a lot of last year with an injury, but she's back, and she's playing with a vengeance."

On the whole, Kampersal was pleased with Princeton's start to the season, despite the team's shortcomings in the match against Harvard.

"I think it's a pretty decent start," Kampersal said.