Tigers remain at .500 in league

A nail-biter against Brown capped the women's ice hockey team's homestand last weekend. The Tigers edged out the Bears 2-0 on Saturday night, but the game was much closer than the score indicates. Unfortunately for Princeton, Friday night's game against Yale was less successful. The Tigers could not convert on enough scoring opportunities and lost to the Bulldogs, 5-3.

The loss to Yale (7-6-4 overall, 5-5-2 ECAC Hockey) was especially disheartening as forward Caroline Murphy scored the winning goal while the Bulldogs were shorthanded. Murphy later added an empty-net insurance goal to cement the Yale lead.

"Giving up a shorthanded goal like that just shouldn't happen," senior forward Brittany Salmon said. "We didn't come out [playing] to win."

The Tigers (8-8-4, 6-6-1) struggled to overcome an early deficit. Yale scored its first goal off a power play 13 minutes, 26 seconds into the first period with a goal from Danielle Kozlowski. The Bulldogs came out guns blazing in the second period as well, capitalizing on a late first period slashing penalty from senior forward Lizzie Keady with a goal that expanded Yale's lead to 2-0.

The Tigers refused to give up, however. Princeton got on the board on a rebound goal from junior defense Katherine Dineen, cutting the Yale lead to one. But the Bulldogs fought back, scoring their third goal of the night less than two minutes later. Junior goalie Kristen Young was beat by Yale's Helen Resor on a two-on-one breakaway at 8:19 into the second period, bringing the score to 3-1. Two more goals from Dineen tied the score at three, but Yale's shorthanded goal 3:47 into the third period proved to be the game-clincher. Even after pulling their goalie with two minutes left, the Tigers could not get the puck into the net. Ironically, the team's attempts to create as many scoring opportunities as possible may have cost Princeton last Friday.

"If you focus on [scoring opportunities], you can paralyze by analyzing," women's hockey head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said. "We try to create similar scenarios in practice," he added.

But it was not all bad news last weekend for the Tigers. On Saturday night, Princeton emerged victorious over Brown (2-12-3, 2-8-2) at Baker Rink. The game was close until the end, as neither team could score for the first two periods. Much like in the Yale game, the Tigers had trouble scoring Saturday night. Many opportunities were squandered by shots that either hit the post or went just wide of the net. Through two periods, there were a total of 11 penalties, but neither team was able to break the deadlock. Over the same time span, Princeton outshot Brown 25-8 but was not able to get the puck past Bear goalie Nicole Stock.

Finally an interference call against Brown's Erica Kromm helped to break the deadlock. It took the Tigers less than 30 seconds to take advantage of this power play, as a slapshot from sophomore defense Maddie Endicott was deflected by Stock. But senior forward Marykate Oakley was sitting next to the goal and knocked the puck in on the rebound to give Princeton the lead for good. Keady added an empty-net goal with two seconds left in the game to cap the Tigers' victory.

"[Saturday's game] was a team effort all around. It was nice to have [a shot] finally get in," Oakley said after the game. "We're getting a lot of shots, but we need to get the goalie moving in the net."

The Tigers now have a two-week break in their schedule for final exams. After the time off, they will faceoff against winless Quinnipiac, in a game the Tigers need to win in order to stay competitive in the ECAC Hockey League.