Though the women's hockey team missed the bonfire on Friday night, it still managed to fire it up this weekend in New York, capturing wins against Cornell and Colgate.
The two victories extended Princeton's unbeaten streak to 10, which is the current second-longest such streak in the nation, sitting behind only that of national champion Wisconsin, which remains unbeaten through 13 games. It is also the best start in Princeton's history, as the Tigers have never started a season without a loss through more than five games.
The ninth-ranked Tigers (8-0-1 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Hockey League, 8-0-2 overall) hit the road for Ithaca, N.Y., on Friday night to face off against Ivy League rival Cornell (1-4-0, 1-7-1). Princeton managed to defeat the Big Red twice during last year's regular season and won 12 consecutive games in the all-time series before Friday's match-up.
Cornell has struggled early on this year, having been swept during the first two weekends of the season. The Big Red sought to gain its second win of the year against Princeton this Friday, but senior captain Kim Pearce destroyed this hope when she tallied the lone goal of the game in the second period and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead that they refused to relinquish.
The Tiger offense bombarded Cornell's goalkeeper with 30 shots throughout the game, but the one goal was all that was needed to make the difference. The score came at four minutes, six seconds into the second period when senior Laura Watt found Pearce, who took a shot on net. Cornell netminder Jenny Niesluchowski originally made the save, but Pearce collected the rebound and buried the puck in the back of the net to tally her fifth goal of the season.
Princeton freshman goaltender Brittany Parisi stopped all the shots she faced, allowing the lone goal to stand up for the win, to capture her third win of the season and first career shutout. The win advanced the Tigers to 38-19-2 all-time against the Big Red.
After the win in Ithaca, Princeton headed to Hamilton, N.Y., on Saturday afternoon to take to the ice against Colgate (4-2-0, 4-7-1), against whom Princeton now boasts a spotless 14-0-2 all-time record. Last season, the Tigers captured two regular season wins against Colgate and defeated the Raiders twice in the quarterfinal round of the ECACHL playoffs.
Seeking to avenge last season's losses, Colgate came up empty as the Tigers skated to a 3-2 victory. Facing a 3-1 deficit, The Raiders staged a comeback late in the game with a power-play goal from Elin Brown, but their efforts were not enough as Princeton held on for the win.
Junior Sonja Novak opened the scoring when she tallied her first goal of the season at 3:01 into the first period. As Colgate was trying to clear the puck from its zone, senior Alison Ralph intercepted a pass and swung the puck around the boards. Sophomore Christine Foster fought off Raider defenders, collected the puck and found a waiting Novak in front of the net, who gave the Tigers the early lead with a quick shot that slipped past Raider goaltender Elayna Hamashuk.
At the end of the second period, the Tigers had a five-on-three advantage when two Raiders were sent to the penalty box. With 3:14 remaining on the clock, sophomore Katherine Dineen capitalized on the power play when she notched her first goal of the season and gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead on assists from senior Kate Hession and freshman Melanie Wallace.
Junior Brittany Salmon added some insurance and scored the eventual game winner for the Tigers with 7:31 gone in the third period. Junior Lizzie Keady found Wallace in front of the Raider net for a shot, but when Wallace's attempt deflected off Hamashuk's pads, Salmon was waiting at the opposite post for the rebound. Salmon's goal made the difference despite a late third-period comeback attempt by Colgate.
Princeton sophomore goalkeeper Kristen Young was bombarded with shots during a Raider power-play as the clock wound down in the third frame. After saving multiple shots, Colgate's Brown finally capitalized on the man-advantage and put the Raiders within one with 1:34 to go. The Raiders made a valiant attempt at the end to tie it up, pulling Hamashuk from the net for the last minute of the game, but the Tiger defense proved too strong.
This weekend's victories gave Princeton its third straight weekend sweep of the year, the first coming two weeks ago against Brown and Yale and the second when it defeated Union and Rensselaer last weekend.
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