The women’s hockey team came back fighting after falling 4-3 in overtime to Brown on Friday to silence Yale on Saturday in a 4-0 shutout win. After the defeat to Brown (3-20-4 overall, 1-17-3 ECAC Hockey) denied Princeton (13-12-4, 11-7-4) a chance to contest the quarterfinals on home ice, the team rallied to wrap up its home season in style, with an impressive victory over Yale (10-16-3, 8-13-1) to finish sixth in the ECAC standings.
The Tigers now travel to Harvard for the quarterfinals of the ECAC Tournament.
On Friday night, sophomore forward Danielle DiCesare’s team-leading 11th goal of the year gave Princeton a 1-0 lead after less than two minutes of play. Freshman forward Corey Stearns’ seventh goal of the year extended the Tigers’ lead to 2-0 just a few minutes into the second period.
Brown’s forward Sasha van Muyen was quick to respond with a goal only minutes later, and forward Vika Mukolenko continued Brown’s surge with her first goal of the season off a pass from forward Nicole Brown to tie the game at 2-2.
Less than five minutes into the third period, Brown took the lead when forward Katelyn Landry redirected a point shot from forward Erica Kromm.
Sophomore forward Charissa Stadnyk refused to allow the Bears even a minute to celebrate their newly acquired lead, as she powered the puck past Brown goalie Katie Jamieson to level the game once again at 3-3.
There was a stalemate between the teams for the final 14 minutes of regular play, and the game went to overtime. With only 19 seconds remaining in the extra period, Bears forward Laurie Jolin made a brave swipe at a loose puck to clinch the win for Brown 4-3. The Bears outshot the Tigers 36-33 in the win.
The Tigers refused to be disheartened, however, and returned to Baker Rink on Saturday raring to go. Sophomore forward Heather Landry’s attempt on goal only 50 seconds into the game was stopped by Yale goalie Jackee Snickeris, who came into the game with an impressive .927 save percentage for the season.
Snickeris would not keep Princeton at bay for long, and seven minutes later, sophomore forward Paula Romanchuk netted her ninth goal of the season off her own rebound to give her team an early 1-0 edge. Stadnyk proceeded to wrap up the opening period with her third goal of the season to extend Princeton’s lead to 2-0.
The teams battled to a scoreless second period before Landry scored her 11th goal of the year — tying her with DiCesare for the team lead — off a pass from freshman forward Alex Kinney, to lift the score to 3-0.
“I think we all played a little smarter on Saturday. We played hard throughout the whole game and didn’t let them come back into it,” Landry said.
Sophomore forward Julie Johnson increased the lead to 4-0 after 13 minutes of play in the third period to hammer home Princeton’s decisive victory. The Tigers outshot the Bulldogs 25-20, and sophomore goaltender Rachel Weber made 20 saves for her third shutout of the year.
“It was a pretty good game for everyone. For our seniors, it was their last game at Baker, and each of them played really well. Rachel Weber also had some really big saves for the shutout,” Landry said.
“On Friday, we played as poorly as we could possibly play, which was disappointing,” head coach Jeff Kampersal ’92 said. “The team performed much better against Yale. Our neutral-zone play was better, winning battles was better, and getting quality shots on goal was better.” Kampersal, however, said he will not let the team let up after its success again Yale. The Tigers go on the road next weekend to face Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., in a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
“In order to be successful, we need to maintain our hockey identity and play up to and within our abilities. Before we play Harvard this weekend, we have plenty areas of our game to improve,” Kampersal said.
The Tigers hope to produce the same winning formula that the team sowed in its win against Yale and its defeat of Harvard earlier this season.
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