Women's hockey hits road to tangle with Buckeyes

Two steps forward. One step back. An age-old dilemma that frustrates coaches and players alike. And that backwards progression is head coach Jeff Kampersal's biggest concern as he and the women's ice hockey team (2-1-1 overall, 1-1-0 Ivy League) head for another long weekend against Ohio State (5-4-1) in Columbus.

Though the Tigers have a winning record thus far, a loss to Harvard last Saturday set them back emotionally. Rather than riding the high of an Ivy League success, Princeton will head to Ohio hoping to get at least one win.

"We will certainly have our hands more than full this weekend," Kampersal said. "Ohio will bring a team ready to play and ready to win."

Kampersal is still looking for the same cohesion on the team that he wanted at the beginning of the season; unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have quite found it. And rather than looking for one or two players on his extremely well-heeled team, in terms of man-to-man skills, the Tigers are going to have to look to the big picture if they are going to be successful over a mentally and physically tough Ohio State.

"We're not looking at individual scorers right now. What we need to do most is look at making the most of every opportunity; everyone needs to do that for us to win this weekend," Kampersal said.

Based on a statistical comparison, Princeton should be optimistic about the possibility of a big win. Even with the disappointing loss to Harvard last weekend, the Tigers have consistently outshot their opponents, and they have the good fortune of being able to look to a deep bench for their scoring potential.

Even though Kampersal had his hands full with seven new freshmen this season, their lack of experience has not hindered their performance on the ice. Freshman forward Annie Greenwood is even tied with junior forward and ECAC All-Star Kim Pearce for goals scored.

But Kampersal and Princeton have more than goals to look at before taking on Ohio this weekend. Defense will be a top concern against a threatening Buckeye attack. Senior forward Jana Harrigan and junior defenseman Amber Bowman, with 12 and 11 points respectively this season, will lead the offense. However, if the Tigers can steal the puck, their odds against Ohio's goalie look good, as Buckeye junior Erika Vanderveer has a 3.2 goals against average. As Ohio has only scored more than three goals in three of its 10 games this season, if Princeton can keep Vanderveer to her average, they should be all set.

But the Buckeyes certainly have the advantage of emotion. While the Tigers are dragging after the Harvard loss, Ohio is still celebrating its upset win over No. 3 Minnesota last weekend, and the players that stepped it up last weekend will be more than ready to apply the same skills to Princeton this weekend.

"Ohio has players that can definitely cause plenty of damage," Kampersal said. "The games this weekend are really going to be back and forth. We don't know which way they will go."

A successful weekend performance will be accomplished through a combination of detailed skill work and big-picture playing. The Tigers need to focus on their special team units (power play and penalty kill) as well as look at the simple goals of outshooting and out-skating the Buckeyes.

No one person will be the make-or-break contributor this weekend, even on a Princeton bench that boasts three ECAC All-Stars. Instead, the Tigers will have to find a way to psych out Ohio and pinpoint its weaknesses, as few as they may be.