Bulldogs skating well after OT win

While most students are focusing on writing Dean's Date papers and studying for final exams this weekend, the members of the women's ice hockey team have something else on their minds: Tiger pride. Coming off two straight ties with UConn last weekend in which Princeton (7-7-4 overall, 5-5-1 ECAC Hockey) only scored one goal, the team is hungrier than ever to take on Ivy League foes Yale and Brown.

"Getting four points will be essential in our hunt to secure home-ice advantage for the playoffs," senior forward Micol Martinelli said. "And beating two Ivy League teams right now is a matter of pride."

The team's first test will be against Yale (5-6-4, 3-5-2) on Friday night at Baker Rink. The Bulldogs will come into the game on a high, after beating Northeastern University in overtime last weekend and bringing their record within one game of .500.

Yale has a powerhouse forward in junior Sarah Tittman, who has already scored eight goals with four assists. Her partner in many of the scoring drives is fellow junior forward Crysti, Howser who leads the team with 10 assists. A key to keeping Yale's scoring to a minimum will be for Princeton's defense, led by junior goalkeeper Kristin Young, to shut down the passing lanes between Tittman and Howser.

The Bulldogs tend to start slow, with only three goals the first period this season as compared to 15 goals in the third. The Tiger offense, led by senior forward Marykate Oakley and junior forward Annie Greenwood, needs to take advantage of this tendency and put early pressure on the Bulldogs.

"We need to win the battles," senior forward Brittany Salmon said. "It is often the team that wins the small battles that also wins the game."

In their second matchup of the weekend, the Tigers will take on a struggling Brown (1-11-3, 1-7-2) team. The Bears have allowed opponents to score more than twice the number of goals their own offense has put in the back of the net.

Though its offense has yet to gel, Brown is young and has been improving with each game. Princeton needs to pay particular attention to sophomore forward Hayley Moore, who leads her team in both the goals scored and assists categories. The Tigers need to make sure they stay consistent and don't have a mental lapse.

"This weekend I think that our major focus will be on outworking and out-executing both Brown and Yale," Martinelli said. "They are both gritty teams, and we will have to continue to work hard and skate fast ... The one area that we will especially need to concentrate on will be getting quality shots on net, and bearing down in front of the net to score goals."

The Bears have recently hung tough with UConn, losing 2-1 in overtime, and Yale, tying the Bulldogs 2-2. The Tigers need to be wary of Brown's newfound confidence and its attempt to turn the season around.

While Yale and Brown may be looking to get big upsets this weekend, Princeton aims to remain atop the Ivy League and is taking every precaution to do so.

"We have prepared ourselves for Yale and Brown just like we would for any team," Salmon said. "We have a good hard week of practice and to get familiar with our opponents, we will often watch game tapes to see how they breakout, fore-check, penalty kill and how they run their power play."