Tigers complete weekend shutout

It was an emotional afternoon at Baker Rink Saturday when women's hockey head coach Jeff Kampersal stood up and gave a speech for Senior Day.

Judging by the fact that the Tigers (16-10-4 overall,14-6-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) followed it up with their second shutout victory in a row, it must have been a pretty good speech.

Princeton's Friday night matchup against Colgate (14-14-2, 13-7-1) resulted in a hard-fought 1-0 victory, while Saturday's skate against Cornell (4-23-2, 4-17-1) put a notch in the win column, with an easy 3-0 victory.

The pair of victories meant that the Tigers finally won the fight for fourth place in the ECACHL, which gives Princeton home-ice advantage in the first two games of its quarterfinal matchup with Colgate this weekend at Baker Rink.

"It was awesome winning the last two games of the regular season," senior captain and forward Kim Pearce said. "We knew going into the weekend that we needed two wins, so it was nice accomplishing that goal."

Colgate was the first hurdle the Tigers had to overcome. The first few minutes of the game were marked by a Colgate offensive strike, as five of sophomore goaltender Kristen Young's eight first-frame saves occurred in the first eight minutes of play.

When Colgate's Tara French received a two-minute penalty for tripping, however, the wind began to change in the Tigers' favor. Less than thirty seconds after the Princeton power play started, senior defender Laura Watt took charge.

After Raider goaltender Brooke Wheeler stopped a shot with her skate, Watt ripped the rebound toward the net, where it was deflected past Wheeler by freshman forward Melanie Wallace.

Despite Princeton's early lead Colgate didn't give up. The matchup was critical for both teams' playoff ambitions.

Coming into the game, Princeton sat in fifth place, one point behind Colgate in the standings — one point away from securing home-ice advantage in the ECACHL quarterfinals.

With such an important prize on the line, it came as no surprise that the remainder of the match turned into a hard-fought battle.

The continued though the third frame, when the Raiders had their best chance at an equalizer. Colgate center Sam Hunt broke loose for a one-on-one against Young, but Hunt was unable to out maneuver the Tiger goaltender. The Tigers emerged victorious on all counts: more shots, more goals, fewer penalties.

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"The win over Colgate was definitely exciting, but we knew that it was not time to celebrate yet," Pearce said. "Getting home ice for the quarterfinals was important for us as a team, not only because we like playing at Baker, but because it was an objective that we established from the beginning of the year."

With their win in Saturday's match against Cornell, the Tigers accomplished that goal.

The game was prefaced with a celebration of the team's senior members, better known as "the Cult."

"The ceremony was very nice — a good mix of humor and emotions," Pearce said. "The speech was directed towards the senior class as a whole, instead of individuals, which was fitting considering the solidarity of our class."

The team not only honored the seniors in the ceremony, but on the ice by putting up impressive numbers in the 3-0 win over the Big Red.

As Princeton outshot Cornell 43-14, it was sophomore forward Sonja Novak who first sounded the siren in Baker Rink on Saturday afternoon. Less than five minutes into the game, she ripped a shot at goaltender Beth Baronick, who deflected it into the net.

The Tigers put away a second goal a few minutes later, when Pearce picked up her team-high 18th assist of the season on a pass to junior forward Brittany Salmon, who then scored.

To make the final tally 3-0, sophomore defender Katherine Dineen put another goal past Baronick with a deflected shot by Salmon.

With the two wins in hand, the Tigers are preparing to face Colgate once again in the ECACHL quarterfinals.

The weekend's one-goal victory was the second of its kind over the Raiders, with the Tigers also notching a 3-2 win back in November.

There have been some ups and downs for Princeton over the season, but lately the Tigers have been playing much better hockey.

"There is obviously still some room for improvement but I think our team has done a good job over the course of the season to build on our strengths and to fix our weaknesses," Pearce said. "Ideally, the upcoming playoffs will be when we peak as a team."

This weekend's quarterfinal games will be held at Baker Rink, with game times to be announced in the next few days.