St. Lawrence and Clarkson were the Tigers’ most recent opponents before the exam break. On the road in early January, Princeton defeated the skillful Saints 3-1 and blanked the physical Golden Knights 2-0.
“I thought both St. Lawrence and Clarkson played better this weekend compared to their play up in the north-country,” junior forward and co-captain Paula Romanchuk said. “The Clarkson rink is a little bigger than Baker, so we had a bit more room to make plays and hold onto the puck longer. We didn’t sustain enough offensive pressure in either game this weekend.”
Although the Tigers defeated St. Lawrence by a decisive four goals, the victory was not secure until the very end. The Saints controlled possession during the game and kept high pressure on junior goalie Rachel Weber. Weber, the steady last line of defense for the Tigers this whole season, stopped all 37 shots she faced.
Halfway through the second period, junior forward Charissa Stadnyk scored the game’s first goal off a feed from sophomore forward Corey Stearns. She took the puck at the blue line and ripped a shot over the goalie’s shoulder for her first score of the season.
With momentum on their side, the Tigers picked up their play. Junior forward Heather Landry scored with just under eight minutes remaining, deflecting junior forward Danielle DiCeasare’s shot into the net. Freshman forward Olivia Mucha and Landry each found the net in the final 80 seconds of play.
“It was not our best game, but considering that we had been off for the past three weeks, we looked okay,” Romanchuk said. “Our goaltending was phenomenal again ... it is the reason we won that game.”
Princeton opened Saturday’s game early in the first period with a breakaway goal. A quick connection with sophomore forward Kelly Cooke put Stearns one-on-one with the goalie and allowed her to put the Tigers in the lead. Weber was under significant pressure in the second period, stopping all 14 shots she faced. She made an impressive 41 saves during the game, but it was not enough.
Clarkson doubled the hosts’ shot attempts with 44, half of which occurred in the third period. Eight minutes in, forward Juana Baribeau slipped a low, backhanded shot through traffic past Weber to equalize. Six minutes later, forward Carly Mercer scored, putting the Golden Knights up 2-1. With only three minutes remaining, Melissa Waldie added Clarkson’s third goal, putting the game out of reach for the Tigers. With an empty net behind her, Stearns scored late in the period, but Princeton could not score again.
“On Saturday, we were a bit slower and struggled to get things going,” Romanchuk said. “Rachel Weber again had some huge stops for us in net, but we were unable to build on that momentum she got for us.”
“I think that our key to success is our breakout. When our defensemen move the puck up quickly tape to tape, we are a very difficult team to play against. Yesterday and even Friday, we struggled breaking the puck out clean and, thus, it felt like we were playing uphill a lot of the game.”
To prepare for next weekend’s road games at Harvard (12-7-2, 11-3-2) and Dartmouth (14-8-0, 10-6-0), the team said they will practice their breakouts and powerplays. Because the ECAC conference is tight, Romanchuk said that the team needs to “fight for every point, because we need them.”
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