Princeton crushes Big Red, Raiders

Before the women's hockey team faced off against Cornell and Colgate at Baker Rink, Princeton had outscored its opponents by a 23-18 margin. Once the weekend play had concluded, the Tigers' advantage had ballooned to 36-20.

Princeton (7-3-2 overall, 4-1-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) came into this home-and-home series fresh off an eight-game stretch against top-10 national opponents, during which it compiled a respectable 4-3-1 record. The experience paid off, as the Tigers exploded offensively and thumped Cornell (3-7-0, 1-5-0) on Friday evening, 7-0, and then proceeded to cool off a hot Colgate team (7-5-3, 4-1-1) by a 6-2 score.

Play opened up with a bang Friday night at Baker Rink as Princeton skated to an early 3-0 lead against the Big Red, thanks to goals by sophomore forward Marykate Oakley, freshman forward Christine Foster and junior forward Laura Watt. Freshman forward Annie Greenwood provided some second-period firepower, while senior forward Heather Jackson scored her first goal of the season in the third period.

Oakley and Foster both had multi-goal games for the Tigers.

Senior goaltender Roxanne Gaudiel also turned in a strong performance, blocking all eight of the Big Red's shots before sliding over to allow freshman goaltender Kristen Young a chance to mind the net. Young turned aside all six shots she faced.

The real story of the night, however, was junior forward Kim Pearce. Coming into the game, Pearce was the Tigers' leading goal scorer, with four on the season. Pearce displayed her versatility and unselfishness on Friday night; though she didn't notch a single goal on the night, she was the catalyst for Princeton, assisting on six of the seven scores of the night.

Pearce's six assists are second most in Princeton women's hockey history.

Also notable was how the Tigers impressively negated seven Cornell power play opportunities. Princeton began the season with power play and penalty kill units that appeared to be the Achilles' heel of an otherwise strong, well-balanced team.

After the Tigers overpowered a Big Red team outmatched in just about every way, the Raiders showed up at Baker Rink.

Princeton showed up, too, with just as much force as the previous night.The Tigers continued to combine a high-octane offense with a smothering defense in a 6-2 victory that completed a weekend sweep.

After an 0-2-2 start, Colgate had gained some serious momentum prior to Saturday's contest, winning six of its last eight contests. The Raiders had combined stifling defense and a potent attack over the course of their hot streak, doing things right on both ends of the rink.

Princeton's defense, which has been solid all year long, disrupted Colgate's rhythm and limited the team to two goals.

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The Tiger offense also continued to click Saturday night, exhibiting its potent and explosive nature.

At the heart of it all was Greenwood, who has turned in some very strong performances over the last couple of weeks. Greenwood had just received the ECACHL Rookie of the Week honors before her dominating performance against the Raiders. Greenwood recorded a hat trick with an extra goal to boot en route to another Princeton rout.

"Annie really got from A to B this weekend," said Gaudiel. "She was a huge presence in front of the net."

Foster and sophomore forward Brittany Salmon accounted for the rest of the Tigers' offensive output.

Once again, Princeton played an aggressive first period, getting out to a solid 4-0 lead after 20 minutes. Just two minutes, three seconds into play, Greenwood recorded her first goal on what was to be a career night for her. With the Tigers trying to light up the scoreboard on the power play, Greenwood took a crisp pass from Watt and handily beat the Colgate goaltender. Foster scored the other lone goal of the period for Princeton, before Greenwood took over the game with her second and third goals of the period.

The Tigers demonstrated their gritty mentality whenever the Raiders tried to close the gap, responding to every Colgate score with a score of their own.

Gaudiel proved to be a force in the net yet again, holding a potent Raider attack to two goals while making 22 saves, including 10 in the last period when Colgate tried to turn up the heat.

For Princeton, it was an impressive weekend. The women's hockey machine was running on all cylinders and featured a shutdown defense, great goaltending, solid power play units, unselfish play, an encouraging youth movement and, most notably, a potent offense.

"The offense was really moving and shaking this weekend," said Gaudiel. "It was great to see them going hard to goal and cooking on the power play, but it was a huge win and a great collective effort."