Tigers drop a dime

Burning for a sweep to pull itself out of an up-and-down season, the women's hockey team set its opponents' goals on fire as soon as it hit the ice this weekend. Competing in back-to-back away games against league competition, Princeton (7-7-2 overall, 5-5-1 ECAC Hockey) managed to complete an incredible weekend, dominating Union (1-14-0, 0-7-0) on Friday in a 7-0 blowout and preserving the weekend shutout with a 3-0 win over Rensselaer (7-8-2, 3-5-1) on Saturday.

This weekend's sweep brought Princeton's record up to .500 and put the Tigers in fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings.

Hungry for a victory, Princeton hit the ice with a vengeance Friday, dominating possession of the puck and outshooting Union, 60-9.

Though the game remained scoreless throughout the first period, the Tigers got on the board two minutes, 43 seconds into the second period when freshman forward Caroline Park scored her first collegiate goal. Park's goal opened the floodgates of the Tiger offense, and Princeton went on to score four more goals in the period, including two by junior forward Annie Greenwood.

"We did a good job of controlling the puck for most of the Union game," junior goaltender Kristen Young said. "It was hard for us to score because they like to stuff a bunch of people in front of the net, which makes rebounds hard, and their goalie is really good. But we needed to win."

Princeton closed out the third period with two more goals, one from senior forward Marykate Oakley — her sixth of the season — and one by freshman defense Sasha Sherry. Throughout the match, 10 Tigers recorded points while the Dutchwomen were only able to get nine shots past the Princeton defense.

"Our defense did a great job of keeping the Union players on the outside," Young said. "The goal is always to limit the number of shots your opponents make, and we definitely accomplished that in this game."

After dominating Union, Princeton closed out the weekend with a 3-0 win against Rensselaer. Though the Engineers controlled the last meeting between the two teams — a 5-3 Rensselaer victory on Jan. 3 of last year — the Tigers did not let memories of their embarrassing defeat stand in the way of a victory.

Princeton jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when freshman defense Laura Martindale managed to slide one underneath the Engineer goaltender with 14:10 left in the first period.

"We got off to a really good start and had set the tempo of the game within the first five minutes," Oakley said. "It was a much faster game than the Union match, and we had to address our timing. But we managed to establish ourselves early."

It wasn't until the second period that the Tigers were able to find the back of the net again. Gaining a five-on-three advantage early in the period, senior forward Brittany Salmon extended the Tigers' lead when she tipped in an assist from Sherry.

Sophomore forward Melanie Wallace got on the scoreboard less than two minutes later for the last goal of the game, netting a rebound from senior captain and forward Lizzie Keady.

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Princeton held on to the lead throughout the final period, stringing together its second consecutive shutout.

"We were focused on playing hard for the entire 60 minutes of the game," Oakley said. "We got the four points this weekend, are going into break on a high and will be able to come back afterwards with an even record and a clean slate."

The Tigers posted 23 shots on goal against the Engineers, including 13 in the second period, while Young blocked all 12 shots fired at her during the match. Though Princeton is out of action during the holiday season, the Tigers return Jan. 4 when they travel to Connecticut for a pair of non-league games.

As Princeton heads into the home stretch of the ECAC playoff push, this weekend's wins were undoubtedly vital in proving to its opponents and to itself that the Tigers are still a team to be feared. Having struggled with consistency during the early portion of their season, however, the Tigers will need to show that this weekend is really a turnaround in the making rather than just another peak in the rollercoaster ride.