Deja vu to start season

If early similarities in the women's hockey team's opening weekend can provide an omen that this season will resemble the last, then the Tigers can look forward to an impressive year.

The Tigers began their season on Friday just like they did last year — in a stalemate with No. 10 Boston College (4-0-1 overall) on the road, 2-2. No. 9 Princeton (1-0-1) then followed up the tie by adding a notch to the win column with a 6-3 blowout of Quinnipiac (1-4-0) on the road Saturday. This away victory also mirrored the team's win last season over the Bobcats in Northford, Conn., when the Tigers won by a three-goal margin, 3-0.

Last season, Princeton won the most games in the history of the program and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, where it eventually lost in the quarterfinals.

The Tigers hit the ice with a vengeance on Friday as junior forward Marykate Oakley found the back of the net twice against the Eagles in the opening 11 minutes. The Bobcats quickly began to hack away at the two-goal differential, waiting less than two minutes to cut into the Orange and Black's advantage.

Princeton managed to hold onto its slim lead until the opening sequence of the second period. After winning the face-off to open the period, Boston College's Deborah Spillane found the back of the net just 17 seconds later and stripped Princeton of its margin.

While the Tigers outshot the Eagles 14-5 in the opening period, Boston College elevated its attack on the net for the remainder of the game, outshooting Princeton 27-17 for the final two periods and overtime.

Tigers roll over QU

The Tigers took much longer to find the back of the net against Quinnipiac, but when they did break through the Bobcats' defense, the goals came with a fury.

The first period nearly ended scoreless until the Bobcats pounded one in on a one-player advantage with less than a minute and a half left in the opening period.

After fending off a Quinnipiac power play early in the second period, however, Princeton finally scored a goal fewer than 20 seconds later as sophomore forward Christine Foster drove one in off an assist by senior captain and defender Laura Watt and junior forward Brittany Salmon.

After six straight shots by the Tigers after their goal, however, it was ironically Quinnipiac who answered the Princeton score less than five minutes later to take the lead, 2-1.

That one goal was the last Quinnipiac would see for a while as Princeton went on to steamroll the Bobcats by hitting the next five goals, barraging goalie Laura Brennan with 18 shots in the second period — 14 more than Quinnipiac fired in the period. At 6:48 into the final period, the Tigers owned a 6-2 lead.

Quinnipiac netted one late goal at 15:08 in the third period to push the score to 6-3. That was all the Bobcats could muster and the game ended with a three-goal victory for the Tigers.