Offense explodes for six goals

After four minutes of dominant play, women's hockey could only watch helplessly from the bench as Quinnipiac's Antionette Maldonado toyed with the puck at center ice. After being fouled on a breakaway, Maldonado was preparing to take a penalty shot on sophomore goalie Kristen Young. On the referee's instruction, Maldonado advanced the puck, attempted a fake to her left and fired a shot into Young's glove. No goal.

It could have been a turning point for the game. Princeton (11-8-2 overall, 9-4-1 ECAC Hockey) had controlled the first few minutes of play, taking four shots to the Bobcats' none, taking advantage of a power-play opportunity. Young's pad save, however, set the tone for the rest of the Tigers' 6-1 rout of Quinnipiac (6-16-0, 3-11-0) Tuesday night.

Less than three minutes later, Princeton was celebrating its first goal of the evening after freshman forward Melanie Wallace tucked away her fourth goal of the season. Senior forward and captain Kim Pearce neatly fed Wallace for the power-play goal.

After two more minutes of Tiger dominance, senior defenseman Laura Watt received a perfect pass from Pearce and after some quick maneuvering pushed the puck past Bobcat goaltender Janelle Wolitski on the near post for what would eventually be the game-winner.

The Tigers continued to own the ice as the first period progressed. Quinnipiac called a timeout with under nine minutes remaining on the clock. Whatever was said during the time out seemed to have some effect, but Pearce stopped the Bobcats in their tracks with the Orange and Black's third goal of the evening.

"The opportunity for my first goal occurred because Laura Watt forechecked hard, causing a turnover on [Quinnipiac's] blue line," Pearce said. "I was able to pick up the loose puck and had a clear path to net."

Shortly after Princeton went up 3-0, the Tiger defense was challenged by a Quinnipiac power play. Standing by the old mantra that the best defense is a good offense, junior forward Lizzie Keady put the puck past Wolitski for a shorthanded goal.

The Tigers' shutout hopes were broken as the first period neared its end. During the final power play of the period, Quinnipiac's Natashia Pellatt fired off a shot that Young saved by deflecting it to the left. Unfortunately for Princeton, the Bobcats' Elyse Cole gathered the rebound and tallied Quinnipiac's only score of the game.

At the end of the first period the Tigers left the ice with a commanding 4-1 lead and a great feeling for a team coming off a weekend of back-to-back losses.

"It was definitely a good feeling in the locker room after the first period," Pearce said. "It is always good when we can put some pucks in the net early on in a game. But we also knew that Quinnipiac is a good team and that they never give up, so we were focusing on continuing to play well for the rest of the game."

Despite that focus, the Bobcats made an attempt to take control of the game. Upping their physicality and utilizing their speed, they outshot Princeton 12-6 and garnered four power plays to the Tigers' one.

A Quinnipiac breakaway four minutes into the period was indicative of the Bobcats' improved play in the second period. Fortunately for the Tigers, the puck was shot straight at Young. Throughout the period Young was a force in net and was crucial in keeping the game's momentum on Princeton's side.

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The Tigers found their groove during their sole power play of the second frame, as senior defenseman Kate Hession ripped a hard shot from the outside to score Princeton's fifth goal of the game.

The final goal came in the third period when Pearce and Watt performed an encore of their first-period breakaway goal, making the score 6-1.

"The game plan was to play fast, hard and disciplined for 60 minutes," Pearce said. "I think everyone was pleased with the win."

The win is an important one for the Tigers because Princeton is fighting for one of four home weekends during February's ECAC quarterfinals. The Tigers go on the road this weekend to take on Rensselear and Union, both of which are league matches.