Princeton ties top-ranked team in country

The No. 8-ranked women's hockey team needed some late-game heroics in both of its weekend contests, a 2-1 win over Clarkson (9-3-1 overall, 4-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) and a 1-1 tie with St. Lawrence (9-0-2, 2-0-2).

Princeton (4-2-2, 2-1-0) had already met every challenge that No. 1 nationally-ranked St. Lawrence could throw at it, and after two solid periods of play, the score was knotted at 0-0. Seven seconds into the Tigers' attempt to kill junior forward Sarah Butsch's high-sticking penalty, however, the Saints finally managed to whip a shot past senior goaltender Roxanne Gaudiel for a 1-0 lead.

Pearce to the rescue

It looked as if the Tigers were going to self-destruct late in the third period, as desperation set in. Instead of maintaining calm and discipline, Princeton committed two emotional penalties that it couldn't afford to kill while down a goal. But the Tigers held strong throughout the penalties, giving themselves another chance to pull back into the game.

Enter junior forward Kim Pearce. On the power play and with four minutes, six seconds remaining on the clock, Pearce wristed a beautiful shot to the right in front of the crease past the St. Lawrence goalie to give Princeton a 1-1 tie.

"I was just trying to put the puck on net," Pearce said. "Greenwood made a nice pass out from behind the net, and all I tried to do was keep the puck low and have it go on net."

Just like that, the momentum shifted.

Though the Tigers had been the ones committing emotional penalties following their defensive lapse, it was now the Saints who seemed flustered and out of control.

With 22 seconds left on the clock, Pearce again outskated the St. Lawrence defenders, and they tripped her from behind as she went in for a one-on-one with the goalie. Because Princeton was already on the power play, the Tigers now enjoyed a 5-on-3 advantage for almost one and a half minutes.

As the seconds ticked down, Princeton pummeled the goal with shots. The puck came twice off the pads of the Saints' goaltender, and the third time it rebounded, the puck sailed into the upper right hand corner of the net. The goal came just seconds after time had expired, however, and the teams went into overtime.

The 5-on-3 wasn't over, however, since penalties carry from period to period. The Tigers had 1:05 left on the power play and mustered several good shots, but they couldn't manage to get the puck into the net either during that advantage or the rest of the overtime period, as the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Most instrumental to Princeton's success was the play of senior goaltender Roxanne Gaudiel, who stopped 30 of 31 shots, including a great save with about one minute remaining in the overtime period to preserve the tie.

"Everyone knew that we had to play tight defense, and everyone showed up and worked really hard in the defensive zone," Gaudiel said. "We tightened up our game all around. Our offense made the most of its opportunities."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Gaudiel is the first goaltender to hold the Saints to one goal this season.

Slaying the Golden Knights

On Friday night the Tigers validated their No. 8 ranking with a 2-1 defeat of No. 9 Clarkson. After a second-period power-play goal by junior forward Laura Watt and a breakaway score from Pearce just one minute and four seconds into the third period, Princeton enjoyed a solid 2-0 lead late game. After being outplayed and outshot eight to 21 over the course of the first two periods, the Golden Knights snapped back to life in the third, peppering Gaudiel with 13 shots. One of those shots, a shorthanded blast from Lindsay Williams, slipped past Gaudiel to bring Clarkson within one. The Tigers held on in the last few minutes, though, to preserve their 2-1 victory.

Princeton showed some improvement on its power-play and penalty kill units this weekend: though the Tigers gave up two goals this weekend while on or against the power play, they scored two power-play goals themselves.

Princeton also had a much-needed confidence boost, proving it can play well with any team.

"It was great tying the No. 1 team," Pearce said. "We had worked hard in practice all week leading up to this weekend, and we knew we could play with St. Lawrence, so it was definitely a great feeling to see the team perform to our ability."