Hobey Baker Rink roared with energy this weekend as Princeton women’s ice hockey (23–9 overall, 16–6–4 Eastern College Athletic Conference) battled the Harvard Crimson (16–15–3, 8–11–3) in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) quarterfinals. After splitting the first two games, the Tigers came out victorious in the end, securing them a spot at Lake Placid, NY, for the ECAC semifinals.
Opening Victory Against Harvard
Determined to make a statement, the Tigers sought to take the offensive during the first period, more than doubling Harvard’s shots on goal, 29–12. Just minutes into the game, senior forward Emerson O’Leary quickly capitalized on a Crimson turnover and set senior forward Issy Wunder up for an uncontested shot, giving the Tigers the early lead, 1–0.
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“I think our team played really well when we scored that first goal, especially for our opening playoff game,” Wunder told The Daily Princetonian. “It’s a big confidence boost that starts the game off on the right foot.”
With the goal marking her 26th of the season, Wunder established the tone for how the Tigers would play throughout the matchup.
The Crimson continued to make mistakes in the period as moments later, Harvard defender Annie Sun was penalized for tripping, handing the Tigers their first power play of the game. However, despite several resets, the Tigers were unable to convert.
Halfway into the period, Princeton kept applying the same suffocating pressure. And though the Crimson held firm defensively, they were faced with yet another penalty as Harvard defender Emi Biotti hooked onto sophomore forward Mackenzie Alexander in a reckless attempt to break the play.
Yet the Tigers were once again unable to get past Crimson goalie Ainsley Tuffy.
“Tuffy’s a great goalie, and all the credit to her,” Wunder told the ‘Prince.’ “I think our game plan is to keep covering her with pucks, trying to change the angles, and coming up with new ideas for getting past the net. If we play our game, we know that some are bound to go in.”
After a back-and-forth, sophomore forward Hannah Fetterolf was called for tripping, giving the Crimson a two-minute power play, but neither team scored, ending the period 1–0.
Accounting for the Tigers’ tight offense, Harvard entered the second period with a renewed and elevated intensity. An exchange of shots continued to echo at both ends of the rink as Tuffy’s impeccable defense and Wunder’s unrelenting forecheck put both teams at a deadlock.
With just a minute left in the stalemate, Princeton received its third power play opportunity as forward Ella Lucia tripped first-year defender Megan Healy with her stick. Hoping to convert with the advantage, Alexander fed the puck to first-year defender Ellie Dimatos for the backdoor shot, but was quickly blocked again by Tuffy.
The third period saw both teams battling for the win. In the final minutes, the Crimson pulled Tuffy for a six-on-five, but despite relentless shots, junior goalie Uma Corniea blocked them all, giving the Tigers game one.
“Our details were great this game,” Head Coach Courtney Kessel told the ‘Prince.’ “I thought we did a great job of getting above pucks as well as outnumbering on backchecking, and it’s important to continue doing so.”
Women’s Hockey recovers from 1–3 Harvard loss, sweep the Crimson 5–1 to advance to Lake Placid
Heading into game two, both teams hit the ice seeking to score. But despite putting up nearly twice as many shots as Harvard in the first period, the Tigers were unable to get anything past Tuffy.
Early in the second period, senior forward Katherine Khramtsov’s shot was intercepted by Harvard, where Harvard forward Morgan McGathey’s shot beat Corniea, giving Harvard a 1–0 lead.
Harvard managed to score once again a few minutes later, bringing the score to 2–0 for the Crimson. Alexander and Wunder repeatedly tried to find an opening and break past Tuffy, but Harvard’s suffocating defensive strategy made it difficult for them to set up for an assist.
Less than three minutes later, Harvard made another attempt to score, which Corniea blocked, but as the play reset, the Crimson almost instantly shot again, catching her off guard and making the score 3–0 Harvard halfway through the period.
Finally, at the beginning of the third period, Alexander broke past Harvard’s defenders for a clean pass to Wunder, who sent the puck right behind Tuffy’s legs to score the Tigers’ first goal of the game. The goal brought Wunder to 70 total career goals, making her the 14th player in program history to achieve that scoring record.
Despite pulling Corniea for a sixth attacker in the final minutes, the Tigers couldn’t close the gap, and the game ended 1–3.
Tigers Dominate Harvard to Advance to the Semifinals
Sunday’s game began similarly fast and furious, as both teams returned to the ice knowing that the winner that afternoon would be headed to Lake Placid for the semifinals.
Nearing the end of the first, Khramtsov gained control of the puck and passed it down to junior defender Maggie Johnson. Evading the Crimson defense, Johnson sent the puck to first-year forward Riley Sorokan, who scored, bringing Princeton to an early 1–0 lead.
“It was honestly such a good keep for Maggie,” Sorokan said after the game. “She passed it up to me, and I just saw an open shot, and I took it.”
Soon after, both Wunder and Alexander took shots that looked like certain goals, only to be barely blocked by Tuffy. Harvard took the puck in the next faceoff, but Healy intercepted it, creating an opportunity for Khramtsov, who soon sent it into the net. The Tigers ended the first period up 2–0.
“I think [those goals] just really reassured us that we can score, we’re in it, and we can capitalize off the chances [we’re given],” Sorokan told the ‘Prince.’
The Tigers began the second period playing even more aggressive offense.
“I just think we came out with energy, and as soon as the puck dropped, we knew we were going to play the full 60 minutes,” Kessel said.
A close-quarters struggle for control over the puck kept most of the Crimson players clustered when Johnson recovered the puck near Princeton’s goal and passed to Alexander, who raced past Harvard’s defense and scored, giving Princeton a 3–0 lead in the second.
“Especially after the Saturday game, we started today just knowing that we needed to shut them down offensively,” Johnson told the ‘Prince.’
Moments after, Dimatos broke past the Crimson line, and senior forward Jane Kuehl was able to get the puck to Sorokan, who gave Dimatos the assist to bring the Tigers to a commanding 4–0 lead.
“Riley came up the wall, dropped it to Ellie, and then she sniped the short side. It was a beautiful shot,” Kessel said.
Harvard’s Biotti cut the lead to 4–1, but Princeton responded as junior forward Ani Kozak passed to Kuehl, who fed sophomore defender Brooklyn Nimegeers for a goal, extending the Tigers’ lead to 5–1.
“Going into this game, we all knew that [Tuffy] was super strong down low, so she was gonna save any direct shots. We were talking about getting rebounds, getting in front of her, getting the screen,” Johnson said to the ‘Prince.’
In the third, Harvard pressed hard but couldn’t score, even on two power plays. Corniea held strong, and the final whistle saw the Tigers celebrate their win and upcoming matchup with Quinnipiac at Lake Placid.
“This [is] the first year that the women get to go there and I’m just so happy to be a part of a team that can really have a good shot at winning it all,” Johnson said.
Andrew Kang is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Leela Hensler is a staff News writer and contributing Sports writer for the ‘Prince’ from Berkeley, Calif.
Please send any corrections to sports[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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