Women's Hockey: Tigers earn top-four playoff seed

“The two wins this weekend were huge,” junior forward Paula Romanchuk said. “With those four points, we were able to secure home ice, so we get to play at Baker [Rink] on Friday. The team is looking good and will be ready to go. We played very well on Saturday, so it’s nice to go into playoffs off a good game.”

Princeton (16-12-1 overall, 13-8-1 ECAC Hockey) struck early and often in the weekend opener against Brown (2-23-4, 1-17-4). One minute into the game, freshman forward Olivia Mucha put the visitors ahead with a quick goal, and freshman defenseman Gabie Figueroa extended the lead to 2-0 just four minutes later. Sophomore forward Kelly Cooke added another goal in the second period.

The hosts rallied in the third period, scoring twice to pull to 3-2. But with the margin still one goal in the final minute, Mucha found an empty net for her second score of the game, sealing the victory.

The next day’s game against Yale (9-17-3, 8-12-2) unfolded differently. Freshman forward Sally Butler struck first with a first-period goal, but the Bulldogs answered with the weekend’s only power-play goal.

The game was tied at the first break, but just 41 seconds into the second period, freshman forward Denna Laing scored to give the Tigers a lead they did not relinquish. Princeton got some insurance from Romanchuk and Laing again, who provided the final 4-1 margin.

For its regular season, Princeton outscored its opponents 63-59 despite taking fewer shots. The Tigers are led in scoring by Mucha with nine goals and Butler with eight.

“The top four teams get home ice in the first round of the playoffs, so moving out of fifth and into fourth means that we get to play another weekend at Baker,” Butler said. “We are all very happy to be on home ice for what will be a tough match-up against Quinnipiac.”

The Tigers will host Quinnipiac (20-11-3, 12-9-1) next weekend, which fell from fourth to fifth place with a loss to Yale on Friday. The teams will play a best-of-three series in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals, with the winner advancing to the semifinals, which take place the following Thursday.

The semifinal pairings are not yet set in stone, because the tournament reseeds the field between each round. The bracket is headlined by top-seeded Cornell, followed by Harvard and Dartmouth. The top eight squads from the 12-team league qualified for the postseason, which Princeton has done for 10 consecutive years.

“The season always flies by,” Romanchuk said. “Once again, I can’t believe the regular season is over. But now we’re in the postseason where everything gets a little more exciting — everyone is playing to stay alive and move on.”

Princeton heads into the tournament as one of the league’s hottest teams. The Tigers have won 13 of their past 15 games and swept their past two weekends to put them on a four-game winning streak.

“The team is energized and looking forward to postseason play,” Butler said. “We will have to practice at our best all week and be ready to go, come Friday.”