No. 8 women's hockey sweeps Clarkson and St. Lawrence

This past weekend, the No. 8/8 women’s hockey team (9–2–0 overall, 7–2–0 ECAC) hosted No. 5/5 Clarkson (10–2–4, 3–1–2 ECAC) on Friday night in Princeton’s annual Black Out Baker game and Saint Lawrence (5–6–3, 1–3–1 ECAC) on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers swept the weekend, defeating the Golden Knights 2–1 and the Saints 6–2.

On Friday, in front of a rowdy crowd, Princeton used two goals from sophomore forward Sarah Fillier to defeat Clarkson. Fillier’s first goal came in the final minute of the first period, after she generated a turnover in the Golden Knights’ defensive zone.

This goal was important for the Tigers to get after dominating territory and possession in the first period. Princeton had outshot Clarkson 19–5 in the first period. The second period was much more even, but Fillier still netted a second goal, after a shot from senior forward Carly Bullock rebounded off the pads of the Golden Knights’ goalie.

Junior goalie Rachel McQuigge was unable to keep the shutout when her sister Brooke McQuigge scored for Clarkson to make it a one-goal game with 14 minutes left in the third period. McQuigge and the Tigers held the rest of the way dominating again on offense outshooting Clarkson 13–4 for the final stretch of the game to finish the game with a 2–1 victory.

On Saturday, Princeton came out looking a little sloppy after a high-energy game the night before and played to a scoreless first period against Saint Lawrence where Princeton had only four shots. The Tigers came out of the second intermission looking like a different team where they scored three goals on four shots forcing the Saints to change goalies less than four minutes into the second period. These three goals came from Bullock, junior forward Sharon Frankel, and sophomore forward Maggie Connors. Fillier extended the Princeton lead to 4–0 when she scored against Saint Lawrence’s new goalie. The Saints were able to force a goal across during a power-play before the end of the second period to head to the third down 4–1. In the third period, Bullock and Frankel each scored again along with one more from Saint Lawrence to make the final score 6–2. Senior goalie Stephanie Neatby was great in goal for the Tigers making 22 saves on 24 shots.

Princeton’s sweep this weekend put them on top of the ECAC standings heading into the Thanksgiving break. Fillier’s performance also earned her second ECAC Player of the Week award in two weeks. The Tigers have 14 points leading No.3/3 Cornell (7–0–1, 5–0–1 ECAC) by three and Harvard (5–2–0, 5–0–0 ECAC) by four. Princeton will resume ECAC play on Dec. 6 when they host the Big Red and then will face Colgate on Dec. 7. A win over Cornell will go a long way for Princeton to try to defend its Ivy League title and move closer to an ECAC title. In the Ivy League, Princeton is tied for third with Yale at 1–2, while Harvard leads the way at 4–0 and Cornell is close behind at 3–0.