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Women's ice hockey opens season against No. 2 Wisconsin

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This past weekend, the women’s hockey team (0–2) travelled to Madison, Wis. to take on No. 2 Wisconsin (8–0) on Friday and Sunday. In Friday’s game, the Badgers jumped out to an early 3–1 lead after the first period. The Tigers fought back to have the game finish 4–3. Princeton was unable to get an extra attacker on at the end of the third period to help get the tying goal in. Princeton’s goals were scored by senior forward and co-captain Karlie Lund, junior forward Carly Bullock, and sophomore forward Annie MacDonald. 

In the rematch on Sunday, Princeton lost 0–3 in a game that was 0–1 after the second period. In an interview, Lund said that she felt that the team “got better as the weekend went on and played a more physical game on Sunday.” After having come out a little slow in their first game, Lund felt that the team did a much better job of battling on Sunday and will now look to play a cleaner 60 minutes this coming weekend.

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Stepping back and looking at the team as a whole, Lund pointed to the team’s depth as its strength. 

“We have a good mix of offensive and defense skaters along with three solid goalies,” said Lund. “This weekend we were able to run three lines consistently whereas some teams only run two lines.” This depth will pay dividends over the course of the long season for the Tigers. 

Lund pointed to two players who she expects to potentially have break-out seasons: sophomore goalie Rachel McQuigge and freshman forward Sarah Fillier. McQuigge did not get to play too much last year as a freshman, but she got to start both games against Wisconsin and made some great saves to help keep Princeton in the game. Over the course of the weekend, she made a total of 53 saves. Fillier made her presence felt in Friday’s game with two assists to get her first points of her Princeton career. Lund thinks Fillier could “be one of [Princeton’s] top forwards this year and was just named to Team Canada for the Four Nations Cup later this month.”

This weekend, Princeton will play its first home game at Baker Rink against Yale on Friday, followed by a contest with Brown on Saturday. Lund expects both games to be competitive, and believes they will set the Tigers on the path to their ultimate goal of Ivy League, ECAC Hockey, and National Championships. Lund said she believes that, “After this past weekend, we saw that we can compete with the top teams in the nation. If we stay healthy and improve each game, we could make it to the National Championship.” 

For those unable to make the trip to Princeton this weekend, the games this weekend will be available to watch on ESPN+.

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