Tigers fall from ECACHL quarters

In the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) quarterfinals this past weekend, the Colgate women's hockey team traveled to Princeton and enacted sweet revenge over the Tigers.

A week ago, the Tigers (16-11-3 overall, 14-6-2 ECACHL) successfully defeated both Colgate (16-14-2, 14-6-2) and Cornell (4-23-2, 4-17-1), securing fourth place in the league and the home-ice advantage for the quarterfinals, outranking fifth-place Colgate by one point.

But the Raiders had the last laugh, as they took the first two games of the series, 1-0 and 3-2, at Baker rink on Friday and Saturday.

Both of the games were hotly contested, as the teams battled back and forth, attempting to find the back of the net. Friday afternoon, both teams struggled to hit their mark, as no goals were scored in regulation. Colgate's Ashley Bradford, assisted by Sam Hunt and Tara French, scored the first and only goal of the game, seven minutes, 59 seconds into overtime.

Though Princeton ultimately fell in game one of the series, the Tigers outshot the Raiders in the first two periods, 15-3 and 15-9. Colgate's defense proved formidable, blocking all attempts on the Raiders' goal.

Because Colgate's and Princeton's offenses and defenses established themselves as equals on the ice, the first game proved to be a matchup of goalies. Colgate's Brook Wheeler stopped all 42 shots on the goal, including four overtime attempts. Freshman goalie Kristen Young stopped 28 goals, including three overtime shots, but failed to save the last overtime attempt.

"It was a really tough loss," said junior forward Micol Martinelli. "We couldn't crack their goalie. We went into Saturday's game knowing we had played well, but we had to play that much better in executing and finishing our shots."

Saturday, the two teams' on-ice skirmish mimicked Friday's game. In order to stay in the ECACHL championship series and move on to the semifinals, the Tigers would have to take both Saturday and Sunday's games.

The Tigers again came out firing in the first and second periods, outshooting the Raiders 15-9 and 14-7. Junior forward Marykate Oakley, assisted by senior forward Kim Pearce, scored the first goal of the night and Princeton's first goal of the series 14:23 into the first period. Colgate answered the Tigers' first goal with a goal of their own scored by Katie Stewart just over two minutes later. The second period saw neither team score.

In the final period of the game, as they did the the night before, the Raiders came charged back out on the ice, outshooting the Tigers 10-5 in attempt to break the tied game and take the series. Nine minutes and five seconds into the third period, Colgate's Katie Stewart scored.

Princeton, determined to take the game, returned to the Raiders' side of the ice and took advantage of a power play 13:55 into the third period, when Oakley, again assisted by Pearce and senior defenseman Kate Hession, found the back of the net to tie the game. In the final minutes, of the game the Raider's found enough momentum to take the game and the series, as Tara French scored the final goal 17 minutes and four seconds into the third period.

Again, the Raider's Brook Wheeler turned in an almost perfect game, saving 32 of the 34 goal attempts. Young as well recorded a stellar performance in game two of the series, saving 21 of 22 attempts on goal. In the final minutes of the game, however, Young was injured, necessitating freshman goalie Brittany Parisi to cover the goal. Parisi was unsure of the Raiders' rhythm, as she had never served as the sole goalie in Princeton's matchups against Colgate, and she failed to save two of four attempts on Princeton's goal.

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"They were back and forth battles," said Martinelli. "It was an intense weekend all around."

The Raiders' defeat of the Tigers marks the end of Princeton's season. Colgate will play Dartmouth in the semifinals next weekend, hoping for another upset.