Women's ice hockey extends winning streak to 6

The women’s ice hockey team continues to impress during this season, as they finished 2015 by extending their current win streak to six games. Defending their home turf of Baker Rink on the weekend, they came out on top in a double-header as they defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions to the tune of 4-0 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday.

The Tigers (11-4-1 overall, 5-4-1 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference) have found their groove the last few weeks and stand right behind the Harvard Crimson (whom they defeated last weekend) in third place in the ECAC standings. However, while holding the third spot in the ECAC standings, Princeton has been the top team so far when looking at inter-Ivy contests — the Tigers are 4-1 so far against other Ivies, with the lone loss coming against Cornell back in November.

Against the Nittany Lions (4-12-4, 1-3-4 College Hockey America), the Tigers could not have started out the weekend on a better note, as they shut out the visitors en route to a 4-0 victory. Indeed, the Tigers handed Penn State its largest margin of defeat this season. Goals from junior forward Molly Contini, junior forward Cassidy Tucker, junior defender Kelsey Koelzer and junior forward Fiona McKenna received credit on the day for the Tigers’ onslaught, scoring a goal apiece in the victory.

The following day was witness to a far closer struggle. Eleven minutes into the second period, Penn State’s Hannah Bramm was the first from her team to score on senior goalie Kimberly Newell in the weekend. The Tigers, however, were quick to respond: Koelzer would find the back of the net just 84 seconds later, with the assist from freshman forward Karlie Lund. The freshman has been a standout performer on the season as she leads the team in total points, with seven goals and nine assists so far.

Princeton would take their first lead of the game off a shot five-and-a-half minutes into the third, courtesy of junior forward Morgan Sly. The Tigers, moreover, would not relinquish their lead for the rest of the game, as senior forward Jamie McDonnell scored with just under a minute to go to seal the Tigers victory. A late score from Penn State would not be enough to upend a Tiger victory, and the Tigers now go into winter break with a victory.

Following winter break, the Tigers will open up 2016 by taking on more Ivy League foes. They will play the last two games of their homestand on Jan. 1 and 2, taking on fellow Ivies Brown and Yale, respectively.