Women's Ice Hockey: DiCesare nets winning goal

The Tigers (7-4-1 overall, 5-2-1 ECAC Hockey) overtook the Terriers (7-5-6 overall) in the first matchup by scoring two man-advantage goals in the first frame.

“We were able to take advantage of the two early power-play goals and run with it,” senior defender and captain Stephanie Denino said. “That really gave us momentum.”

Princeton took an early lead midway through the first period when sophomore forward Danielle DiCesare collected sophomore forward Paula Romanchuk’s rebound and converted on the doorstep. DiCesare leads the Tigers with six goals this season.

Later in the first period, junior defender Sasha Sherry received the puck from sophomore forward Heather Landry and flicked it toward the top right corner of the net to score Princeton’s second goal of the game.

Though the Terriers outshot Princeton, 12-5, in the second and cut the deficit to one late in the period, the Tigers controlled play throughout the final frame. The Tiger defense prevented BU from registering a shot during the first 14 minutes of the period. Junior defender Laura Martindale’s unassisted empty-netter sealed the win for the Tigers with nine seconds left on the clock.

Sophomore goaltender Rachel Weber stopped 21 shots to earn her fourth win this year.

Though the Tigers managed to score two quick goals early in the contest, the pace of their play lagged as the game wore on, and they had to rely on their defense to preserve the win.

“We slowed down a little bit,” Denino said. “That should not have happened, because they were not a difficult team to play. We did not put forth our best team at all times.”

In the second game, held Saturday night at Baker, Terrier forward Lauren Cherewyk scored in the last six minutes of the third period to push BU to a 3-2 victory over Princeton. On Friday, Princeton had 13 shots on the power play, but on Saturday, Princeton managed only nine.

Though the Tigers did not take advantage of all of their power-play opportunities, Landry help ed the Tigers bite into the Terriers’ lead with a power-play goal, her seventh overall this season. Even though Princeton outshot BU in the second game by a 33-27 margin, it did not translate into a victory for the Orange and Black.

“You never want to play catchup,” Denino said. “They capitalized and we didn’t. In the end we just didn’t get that goal, we didn’t have that one play to finish the game.”

Reflecting on why the Tigers were a goal down after such a big win on Friday night, Denino acknowledged that it probably was not the Terriers who held them back.

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“We made more mistakes that we typically do not make,” Denino said. “It was more of a function of us not being the team that we should be, rather than BU being a team that we could not stop.”

There was also a drastic discrepancy in Princeton’s faceoff success between the two games. The team not only won more faceoffs in the first game, but it was also able to turn those faceoff wins into goals, giving the Tigers a major advantage.

“When you lose the faceoffs, you are not looking at the score on the five-on-three power play,” Denino said. “It is ultimately a question a possession.”

Going into this week, the team knows it needs to work on regrouping and making more succinct passes.

“We lost sight of moving the puck quickly on Saturday and took a lot more time making passes we probably did not need to make,” Denino said. “Moving into this coming week, we are going to have to focus on entering the zone as a team and making sure our passes are succinct.”

Next up for Princeton will be a trip north, as the Tigers will face St. Lawrence and Clarkson.