Women's Hockey: Squad ready for road trip vs. No. 5 Boston University

After failing to find the back of the net in its last two games, the women’s hockey team hopes to be thankful for goals over the Thanksgiving weekend. Continuing the tradition that started one year ago, Princeton (3-7-1 overall, 3-5-1 ECAC Hockey) and No. 5 Boston University (9-2-3) will play twice during the holiday weekend. Both games will be played in Walter Brown Arena, home of the Terriers.

Having recently battled two other highly ranked teams, the Tigers relish their opportunity to play their third ranked team this season. While they have not yet beaten a ranked team, they have come close with a tie against No. 10 Harvard and a 1-0 loss to No. 2 Cornell.

“We look forward to the challenge of playing Boston University,” head coach Jeff Kampersal ’92 said. “We have played a very tough schedule to date, so we are battle-tested and accustomed to playing at a high pace.”

Boston’s stingy defense will likely pose a problem for Princeton. The Terriers, who shut out their last opponent, have held teams to an average of 2.1 goals per game this season. That does not bode well for the Tigers, who have had scoring difficulties all season. Princeton has only scored more than two goals twice so far.

In an effort to shake things up, Kampersal broke up the successful all-freshman line of Sally Butler, Denna Laing and Olivia Mucha. The trio has combined for six of the team’s 15 goals. It seems that Butler is the key to victory for the Tigers, as she has scored the winning goal in each of the team’s three wins.

“I don’t feel any added pressure,” Butler said. “The key to winning games is playing as a team. We all need to contribute in order to get the results we want.”

Fortunately for the Tigers, their goaltending has been superb despite their offensive struggles. Junior Rachel Weber is expected to make her fifth consecutive start in goal. She is 1-3-1 on the year, but her record has not been indicative of her play. Weber has yielded eight goals in her more than 13 periods of play and has a .935 save percentage.

Butler characterized Weber’s play as “excellent” and emphasized that the offense must play better for the team to succeed.

This is the first time in the season that the Tigers will play the same team back to back.

“From the practice-week perspective, it is easier to prepare for one team than two,” Kampersal said when asked how the doubleheader affects the game plan. “It is tough playing the same team back to back.”

Only 20 hours separate the starting times of the two games, but that seems to be plenty of time to fine tune the team’s strategy.

“There are usually more adjustments during a weekend like this, as opposed to our league weekends,” Kampersal said.

This is a pivotal moment in the women’s hockey team’s young season. Two losses would be a catastrophic setback, as it would increase the squad’s current winless streak to six games. Wins, though, can set the tone for the rest of the year and catapult the Tigers back toward the top of the ECAC Hockey standings.

Princeton’s schedule has been extremely difficult this season. Including Boston, the Tigers’ opponents so far are a combined 64-48-16 overall.

“There are no easy games,” Butler said. “All of our opponents are strong, but we feel that we can beat anybody if we play our game for the full 60 minutes.”

Despite all the challenges the Tigers have faced, from their tough schedule to their goal scoring woes, team morale remains high.

“The team is staying positive,” Butler said. “We know that we’re going to have to work harder if we want to win games, and that’s what we plan on doing.”