The women’s hockey team knows this will be a challenging weekend, yet it remains optimistic about its ability against two top-ranked teams.
Princeton (10-11-4 overall, 8-6-4 ECAC Hockey) faces first-place Clarkson (20-7-3, 14-3-1) tonight and fourth-place St. Lawrence (14-9-7, 10-5-3) on Saturday afternoon at Baker Rink. The Tigers, who currently sit at seventh place in the ECAC, will have to play hard this weekend against both teams.
Princeton has already lost to both teams this season. The Golden Knights beat the Tigers 3-0 and St. Lawrence won 3-1 when both teams played Princeton in early December.
Going into this weekend, it is crucial that Princeton comes out of the gate ready to play from the opening faceoff all the way through to the final whistle. The Tigers will need to watch not only the accuracy of shots but also look for shot opportunities, as they are often outshot by their opponents.
In their previous game this year against St. Lawrence, Princeton was outshot 28-22. The Tigers’ shots also need to be more accurate; Clarkson recorded a shutout last time the teams met, even though Princeton outshot the Golden Knights 29-22. Though it appears difficult, the Tigers are aware of the challenges they face.
“Since we played them earlier in the season, I think our team has been able to come out of the gate and play a stronger first period. In our loss to St. Lawrence, we played great second and third periods, but our first-period performance lost the game for us,” junior defender Sasha Sherry said. “We have more of an attack-and-be-aggressive mindset, which will help us this weekend.”
Senior defender and captain Stephanie Denino noted the importance of effective shots on goal.
“We want to make sure we get more quality shots while driving the net and being in their goalie’s face,” she said.
This aggressiveness will be particularly important against Clarkson, as the Golden Knights are a very cohesive and technically skilled team.
“Clarkson is a very strong team in all aspects of their game, and we need to be virtually mistake-free with the puck or they will capitalize quickly,” Sherry said. “Both teams have a lot of talent on offense, and we will make sure our defensive-zone play is much better than last weekend.”
Though opposing-team statistics are important to take into consideration, Princeton is really going to focus on the internal workings of its team.
The Tigers hope this will help produce a winning weekend against two very difficult teams.
“After last weekend, I think it is more important for us to focus on our game and what we can control from our end, instead of our opponent. We have a history of beating ourselves, and if we focus on execution of our game plan instead of reacting to what our opponents are doing, we will be better off,” Sherry explained.
“These teams are strong, but we can be too,” she added. “It will be a tough weekend, but each of us knows what we need to do to help the team to succeed. It’s all about execution.”
More specifically, Denino discussed the importance of playing well in all three zones and on defense in particular. Sherry noted the importance of the team’s defense as well, recognizing that it is crucial for it to be on point this weekend.
This weekend’s series is particularly crucial, as there are only four more league games to play, and the standings will determine whether the Tigers will get home ice in the playoffs.
Denino, however, said she remains optimistic and focused going into this weekend.
“The league is tight right now, and I’m not big on counting points to figure out where we will end up. All I believe in is ‘controlling the controllables’ and that means doing everything in our power to outperform the competition,” Denino said.
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