Women’s ice hockey wins the Eastern College Athletic Conference regular season championship with overtime win over Brown

Princeton women’s ice hockey (21–8 overall, 16–6–4 Eastern College Athletic Conference) solidified themselves as the champions of the ECAC regular season over the weekend with a victory over Brown (16–11–2, 12–7–2). Although Princeton lost to Yale (22–8–0, 16–6–0) the previous day, Yale’s Saturday loss to Quinnipiac (24–7–3, 14–6–2) helped the Tigers secure the title. With a bye-week already clinched, the Tigers will return to play at home in two weeks for the ECAC quarterfinals.

Battle at Baker: women’s ice hockey falls 2–0 to dominant Yale offense

Princeton hosted Yale last Friday at Hobey Baker Rink. The competitive game that could have made Princeton the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) champions ended in a 2–0 loss for the Tigers.

At the start of the game, senior forward Issy Wunder was awarded the Mandi Schwartz Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award for her impressive athletic and academic achievements. The prestigious award is given to one female hockey player from the ECAC each year who excels academically and athletically. Wunder, who leads the team in goals scored and boasts an impressive 3.917 GPA, is the first Princetonian to win this award.

“It's a huge honor,” Wunder told The Daily Princetonian. “I’m really grateful to the Schwartz family at Yale and the ECAC. It’s a really special award, and carrying on Mandi’s legacy is a really important thing to do.” 

The game then quickly got underway, and both teams fought to assert possession, especially in the neutral zone. Within six minutes, Yale forward Jordan Ray took a shot on goal. It was initially blocked by junior goalkeeper Uma Corniea, but Ray met the rebound and lobbed it into the net to put Yale ahead 1–0.

Princeton felt pressure on their defense for the remainder of the period, and went into the first intermission with fewer than half as many shots on goal as their opponents. 

“We knew we had to be better, we had to be better at breaking pucks out, getting pucks behind their D[efense] and going east-west in the O-zone,” Head Coach Courtney Kessel told the ‘Prince.’

The Tigers returned to the ice with intensity, quickly racking up more opportunities to score. Six minutes into the second period saw Princeton in the attacking zone, this time, winning faceoffs, and making close shots. Just two minutes later, however, after commotion in and around Princeton’s goal, a wide left shot from Yale forward Mariya Rauf found the back of the net and increased the Bulldog lead 2–0. 

“Yale’s a hard team to play against,” Corniea said postgame. “They box out well and don’t give us a lot of chances, so we just emphasized that we need to work more as a team and move the puck a little bit quicker and get a few more shots on net.”

The Tigers came back onto the ice determined in the third period. Princeton matched Yale’s number of shots on goal, and ended up taking more total shots. 

“It’s easy to say, get pucks on the net,” Wunder told the ‘Prince.’ “It’s hard to actually do the work. I really give credit to the girls.”

“[They were] putting their bodies on the line, really sacrificing themselves to get pucks to the net and it made a difference in the third,” she added.

Princeton’s defense also proved dominant, keeping Yale scoreless through the full twenty minutes. Though the Orange and Black couldn’t make up the points, their performance in the third period kept the game competitive.

Bouncing Back: Women’s ice hockey tops Brown in thrilling overtime win on Senior Day to clinch ECAC

Women’s ice hockey hosted Brown University (16–12–2, 12–8–2) Saturday at home. After losing 2–0 to Yale University the day prior, the Tigers turned the tides for a 3–2 overtime win on senior day. 

The Orange and Black started the first period with urgency and dominated possession throughout the entire twenty minutes. The team controlled the neutral zone, allowing the Tigers’ offense to put up 24 shots on goal, 22 of which were shots on-target. The Bears, in contrast, managed 13 shots on-target over the first period. 

After an assist from Wunder, sophomore defender Rosie Klein put Princeton on the board, with a wrister keeping the puck low and evading Brown goaltender Rory Edwards to the left corner.

“It was just a great look from Issy below the goal line,” Klein told the ‘Prince.’ “She found me in the slot, it was really a team goal.”

Less than two minutes into the third period, the landscape of the game changed. Brown forward Jade Iginla took a shot that, after making contact with Corniea’s blocker, slid past the goal line, making it a tied 1–1 game.

Later, sophomore forward Mackenzie Alexander fed the puck back across to Wunder who, with a powerful slot shot, sent the puck to the back of Brown’s net to give the Tigers 2–1 lead. 

“[Alexander] made a great pass and I had enough and decided to just put everything I could on it,” Wunder said. “I didn't see it go in the net, but I heard the cheers and that was great.”

In the last minute and a half of the third period, Brown, with an empty net, sent a six player rush up into Princeton’s defending zone.

The commotion in front of Princeton’s goal gave Brown forward India McDadi an opportunity, and she successfully launched the puck through to the top left edge of the Tiger’s net.

A tie game, once more.

As the contested third period drew to a close, the teams had two minutes to prepare for the next five minutes of sudden death, three-on-three overtime play. During overtime, in a quick move to usurp the puck from Brown defender Isabella Gratzl, Wunder took out on the open ice in front of her and maneuvered around Gratzl. 

In a breakaway, Wunder took her shot. Initially blocked by Edwards, Wunder successfully got the rebound and finished it through to the back of the net. 

With her 25th goal of the season, Wunder secured the senior day win.

📽️ The moment we won, and the moment we won! pic.twitter.com/ZquxmWEq1E

— Princeton Women's Ice Hockey (@PWIH) February 14, 2026

“I couldn’t think of a better way to end senior night than making program history and winning the ECAC title,” Wunder told the ‘Prince’. “We showed today that we can win close games, and that’s what you need in the playoffs. We’re excited and ready to go.”

Siena Sydenham is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’

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