Colgate visits for quarterfinals

In deciding who gets the home-ice advantage for the women's ECACHL quarterfinals, fifth place is the first loser.

The women's hockey team (16-10-3 overall, 14-6-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) defeated both Colgate (15-14-2, 14-7-1) and Cornell (4-23-2, 4-17-1) last weekend, securing the coveted fourth-place spot in the ECACHL rankings and home ice for this weekend's ECACHL quarterfinals.

Going into their weekend games, the Tigers, who were in fifth place, knew that they had to take both games to move up in the rankings. After its Sunday game against Cornell, Princeton advanced to fourth place, outranking the Raiders by one point. This weekend, Colgate will travel to Princeton in hope of advancing to the semifinals and in attempt to take revenge for last weekend's games.

"We were pretty pumped up with the win we had," said sophomore defenseman Monica Brennan. "It was really big and will help in setting the pace [for this weekend's games]."

Last weekend's matchup between the two schools was highly contested, as the first and only goal was scored in the first period when senior defenseman Laura Watt assisted freshman forward Melanie Wallace in finding the back of the net.

In their game against Colgate, the Tigers presented themselves as an aggressive and assertive team on the ice. Whereas in many of their previous games, the Tigers' opponents outshot them, the Orange and Black was forceful and determined, outshooting the Raiders, 25-20. Colgate was playing aggressively as well. Unfortunately for the Raiders, their aggression materialized in the form of penalty minutes. The team tallied 29 minutes of penalties, including one disqualification at the end of the game. The number and duration of Raider penalties helped Princeton take the game; the first and only goal was scored during a power play. The Tigers turned in only eight minutes of penalties.

Leading the Tigers in goals are senior forward Kim Pearce, junior forward Marykate Oakley and Wallace, who in the last few games has proved herself to be a key component of the Tiger team. Watt joins the venerable trio in team leaders in points. Freshman goalie Kristen Young leads her team in goals saved, and has proved to be among the top goaltenders in the league. She has saved .915 percent of all attempted shots.

Forwards Sam Hunt and Katie Stewart lead the Raiders in goals, with 20 and 16, respectively. In points, the latter are joined by forward Elin Brown as team leaders. The Raiders boast two goalies with respectable save percentages: Elayna Hamshuk and Brook Wheeler have recorded conference-saving percentages of .927 and .938, respectively.

The Tigers must win two out of the possible three games scheduled this weekend against Colgate to advance to the ECACHL semifinals. Their first matchup will take place at 4 p.m. today. They will play again at Baker Rink on Saturday at 7 p.m. and for a third time Sunday if necessary.

"The games this weekend will be really tough," stressed Brennan. "They are a really good team, and they come to play. They work hard. We work hard. It's a matter of whose going to win the battles."