On a weekend when the women's hockey team needed to win two games to keep pace in the ECAC Hockey conference, the Tigers went 1-1, beating Colgate handily, 4-2, but dropping a frustrating 3-2 decision to Cornell.
The Tigers (5-7-2 overall, 3-5-1 ECAC Hockey) out-shot the Big Red (7-4-1, 4-1-1) 26-18 Saturday night, but were unable to convert when necessary in a scoreless third period. The bright spot of this weekend's road trip was Friday night's victory over Colgate (4-8-2, 3-2-1), in which Princeton capitalized in the final stanza, scoring two goals within the first minute, seven seconds.
"We had a strong start — we came out playing hard," freshman defender Laura Martindale said.
On Saturday night, though, Cornell never trailed. The Big Red grabbed an early lead on two even-strength goals from Rebecca Johnston and Liz Zorn. Senior forward Marykate Oakley halved the lead on a power play with assists from freshman defenseman Sasha Sherry and senior captain and forward Lizzie Keady.
With 5:47 remaining in the second period, Cornell retaliated with a goal from Amber Moore, putting the Big Red up 3-1. Princeton soon brought the margin back to one on sophomore defender Maddie Endicott's goal with four seconds left in the second period, but the Tigers couldn't find the equalizer in the third period despite having eight shots on goal.
"The effort was there — but the result we wanted didn't come," Martindale said. "We need to come back this week and keep practicing hard."
On Friday night, led by two goals from senior forward Sonja Novak, Princeton topped Colgate for the second time this season. Early in the second period, junior forward Annie Greenwood opened the scoring, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead before Colgate's Nicole McDonald evened things up with a power-play goal 16:54 into the second period.
Two crucial mistakes cost Colgate the game later in the second period. The first, a five-minute major penalty for hitting from behind was called on Ali Edell, and the second was a penalty on Colgate for too many players on the ice, assessed almost simultaneously with 30 seconds left in the period. Together, the two penalties gave Princeton a two-man advantage. The Tigers capitalized on it, as Oakley deflected a shot from Sherry into the Colgate goal. Only a few seconds later, Novak made it 3-1 on a rebound. She scored again with 4:07 left in the game, and all Colgate could do was add a lone futile goal toward the end of the game.
"Whether we're home or away, it's the same deal," Martindale said. "We need to work together as a team."
Oakley's two goals in the games against Cornell and Colgate bring her season point total to 15, leading the team. Oakley is also tied for 12th in points among all the players in the ECAC, while ranking seventh in conference play.
Sherry has performed particularly well in the crucial conference games, ranking eighth among in-conference scoring leaders. Sherry is the highest ranked freshman in the ECAC, with 10 points, including nine assists — a total that also makes her the league's highest-scoring defender.
This weekend's games brought Princeton into a fifth-place tie with Colgate and Yale in the ECAC, with seven points apiece. Harvard leads the league with an unbeaten record of 9-0-0 and 18 points overall, while St. Lawrence and Dartmouth are tied for second with 14 points each.
"We are a really good team. We need to work hard and play up to our potential," Martindale said.
Princeton will need a late season surge to have hopes of finishing near the top of the conference, and the team's schedule should help it out in the short term. Next weekend the Tigers play conference doormats Union and Rensselaer, who are both winless in the ECAC. Wins over these two teams would bring the Tigers back to .500 both overall and in conference play and put them in the middle of the league.
Whether or not Princeton is playing for pride in January may very well be determined by the outcome of next weekend's games.
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