After loss in shootout, Princeton shuts out Colgate

Nothing tastes quite as sweet as revenge, as the women's hockey team discovered this weekend. With Colgate's sweep of Princeton during last season's Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) quarterfinals still fresh in their memory, the Tigers hit Baker Rink with a vengeance Saturday, dominating the Raiders with a 3-0 win.

The No. 10 Tigers (4-4-2 overall, 2-4-1 ECACHL) entered the match without their top scorer, senior forward and captain Lizzie Keady, who was out due to a foot injury. But last year's disappointing losses to Colgate (3-6-1, 3-1-0) was all Princeton needed to rally up a win.

Coming off Friday night's 7-4 loss to Cornell (4-4-1, 1-1-1) at Baker Rink, the Tigers started fast during the first period, and kept constant pressure on the Raiders throughout the frame. Outshooting Colgate 14-6, Princeton capitalized on the Raiders' second penalty when junior forward Annie Greenwood scored a power-play goal 13 minutes, nine seconds into the period.

"We needed to regroup after losing at home to Cornell," senior forward Marykate Oakley said. "We came out hard and really set the tempo for the entire game. We looked like an entirely different team from Friday to Saturday."

Though the Raiders came out strong during the second period, taking 13 shots in the frame, Colgate couldn't sneak anything past the gloves of junior goaltender Kristen Young, who made 27 saves for the shutout. The Tigers increased their lead to 2-0 when sophomore forward Julie Flynn crashed the net a on rebound shot, scoring her first goal of the season.

Princeton ensured its victory midway through the third period when Oakley lofted the puck down the ice to senior forward Brittany Salmon, who knocked in an easy breakaway goal.

Though disappointed with Friday's performance against Cornell, the Tigers used the game as an opportunity to improve their skills before the Colgate match.

"What was nice about this weekend was that Cornell and Colgate both have very similar breakouts," Oakley said. "So we prepared for Colgate by playing Cornell. We decided to pressure the puck more, tweak our forecheck and move our forwards up when crashing the net because of Friday's game."

Coming into Friday's game with the confidence of having beaten the country's No. 1 team, Princeton seemed capable of almost anything. Unfortunately for the Tigers, their euphoric high ended when faced with the powerful strength and speed of the Big Red's nine freshman recruits. Cornell scored five goals in the final six minutes, 23 seconds of the second period.

"Obviously that was a really big disappointment, especially after coming off of such a big weekend," Oakley said. "We played well during the first period and a half, but then the momentum switched when they scored a goal. Then we stopped doing the little things right and gave them the game."

The Tigers scored the lone goal of the first period when senior forward Sonja Novak tapped a pass from Salmon into the net on a power play. Two goals later and midway through the second period, Princeton seemed to be dominating the match with a 3-0 lead. The Big Red, however, wasn't going down without a fight. The game quickly slipped out of the Tigers' control as Cornell scored the game's next six goals, five of them within the last seven minutes of the second.

Though the Tigers rallied back 27 seconds after the Big Red's sixth goal when Novak scored midway through the third frame, they were unable to get anything else in the back of the net.

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"For the first half of the game we were making passes, our breakouts were good and defense was good," Oakley said. "Then we just stopped making the easy plays. We tried to make passes that weren't there, we weren't staying on the defense side of things, we were turning the puck over at the blue line; all the these things came back to beat us in the end."

Princeton continues its homestand Friday against No. 2 Mercyhurst. The Tigers' ability to control the puck enabled them to dominate Colgate, but after the loss to Cornell, they must prove that they won't once again break down under pressure.