Thawing off another season

Entering this season, the women's hockey team boasts a list of recent accomplishments so extensive it seems almost unbelievable — one that should cause each of its opponents to cringe before hitting the ice against Princeton this season.

Exhibit A: The Tigers made it all the way to the NCAA Quarterfinals last year after garnering an at-large bid to the tournament.

Exhibit B: This summer, two of that team's returning players — sophomore forward Annie Greenwood and sophomore defender Katherine Dineen — played with an elite group of 38 other under-22 American players selected to participate in the U.S. National Women's Festival.

The list goes on. The Tigers are led by 2005-2006 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) Coach of the Year Jeff Kampersal '92 and in addition to returning Greenwood — the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year — also welcome back last season's Ivy League Player of the Year , senior forward Kim Pearce.

Kampersal, a former Princeton men's hockey standout now in his 11th season as women's head coach, however, is not letting the accolades distract the team.

"Last year was definitely a special one for us, but we've already put it on the backburner. We like to start off 0-0, and we try to literally, it seems cliche-ish, but take it a weekend at a time," Kampersal said.

The Tigers open their season tomorrow against Boston College on the road and will look to work out early-season kinks against a team already three games into its season and currently undefeated. Princeton will look to build on its history of dominance over the Eagles. In the teams' 19 matchups since 1982, the Tigers boast a 16-0-3 record.

"[Boston College] played a couple weekends ahead of us, so we're a little behind the eight ball in terms of that," Kampersal said. "We focus on our overall game, we focus on our d-zone and then focus on our special teams and try to get our power play going as well as it possibly can at this point in the year."

As Kampersal acknowledges, Princeton is in luck in that all of its goto players on the power play return this season. The Tigers dominated offensively last season against their opponents, earning 104 goals on the season as compared to just 47 total scores by opponents. Greenwood was tops on the team in scoring last season with 25 tallies, while Pearce led the team in assists last season with 30.

These offensive weapons are complemented by the five new freshmen who join the team this year, along with a new offensively-minded coach. Assistant coach Jessica Link comes to Princeton after a brief stint as assistant coach at Union College.

Link, a member of Brown's Class of 2005, herself earned All-Ivy recognition in each of her four collegiate years at Brown, and will look to hone the Tigers' offensive game.

"We're hoping that she can add a little grit, a little intensity. Hopefully having her great intensity revs up our players on things like face-offs, offensive skills that she can bring to the group," Kampersal said. "She has a lot of character and charisma. She's really an awesome person."

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In light of their attention to creating scoring opportunities, the Tigers will still follow a "defense-first" strategy in their play. With careful zone defense and use of angled passes and clears in play, Princeton can then look to control play and convert when a good opportunity arises.

This sort of strategy requires excellent communication — a feature of the team that contributed to much of the team's success last season. Kampersal is confident in the five seniors' ability to assert themselves as role models and provide disciplined examples for the rookies.

Because of last year's good chemistry, this group of players, which includes captains Pearce and senior defender Laura Watt, know how strong camaraderie can translate into wins.

"Some years we have good chemistry and some years we have really good chemistry, and last year was one of those really good years where everyone got along, everyone picked each other up when somebody was down, they never got too high, they stayed on an even keel, but they watched each other's back," Kampersal said.

That strong team bond translated into the winningest season in the history of women's hockey at Princeton, as the Tigers pulled out 21 victories.

The outlook is not completely rosy, however, as the departure of goalie Roxanne Gaudiel '06 leaves a void in a critical spot on the ice. Netminding responsibility will be passed off to three players — two returning and one freshman — who will vie for playing time. Given the Tigers' strong defense, however, whoever ultimately asserts the starting spot will have a firm defensive buffer in front of her.

Princeton will look to quickly adjust to this and other lineup changes before its Ivy League season opens on Nov. 4 against Brown in Providence, R.I.

The Tigers earned victories over the Bears and Yale last year to close out their Ivy League season with an Ivy League title — a feat that Princeton has the skill to repeat again this season.