Princeton University Athletics
Women's Hockey Visits Brown This Weekend for ECAC Quarterfinals
March 10, 2004 | Women's Ice Hockey
March 10, 2004
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton women's hockey team visits Brown this weekend for the best-of-three ECAC quarterfinals. Princeton, the fifth seed, and Brown, the fourth seed, split the regular season series, with each team winning a game away from home.
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Second Season... The Princeton women's hockey team begins the 2004 ECAC Playoffs this weekend with its best-of-three quarterfinal series at Brown. Because Brown is also hosting a men's hockey quarterfinal, game times for the weekend will be as follows.
Friday, March 12 - 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 13 - 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 14 - 2 p.m. (If Necessary)
Last Time Out... The Tigers split their final weekend of the regular season at Brown and Harvard. On Saturday Princeton was down 3-1 to Brown in the second period before scoring five unanswered goals to post a 6-3 win. On Sunday, Harvard took a 1-0 lead midway through the second period and held on for a 2-0 shutout over Princeton.
The Series with Brown... Princeton is 25-22-1 all time against Brown and is 12-11-1 in games played in Providence. Princeton swept Brown a season ago and split the season series this year, winning the game in Providence. Princeton and Brown have met only once in postseason action. That meeting came in the 1981 Ivy League Tournament semifinals at Harvard. The game was won by Brown 3-2 in overtime.
Scouting the Bears... Brown and Princeton are right next to each other in the standings and have had similar seasons. Brown finished the year 16-10-2 overall and 12-5-1 in the ECAC. Against the league's top-three teams, Brown split with St. Lawrence, was swept by Harvard, and went 0-1-1 against Dartmouth. Sunday's win over Yale snapped a two-game skid for the Bears. Earlier this Season I... A day after knocking off Harvard, Princeton faced Brown and despite taking a 1-0 lead at 11:42 of the first on a goal from sophomore Heather Jackson, Brown fought back with a goal in each period to earn a 3-1 win at Baker Rink. Jessica Link led all scorers on the day with a goal and two assists.
Earlier this Season II... Despite earning leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the first half of the game, Brown could not hold off a charging Princeton team as the Tigers scored five goals in the game's final 24 minutes to defeat Brown 6-3 last Saturday. Senior Gretchen Anderson led all scorers with three goals and an assist.
Playoff History Against Brown... This is the first time since 1981 that Princeton and Brown have met in the playoffs. The Bears won that previous meeting 3-2 in overtime at Harvard's Bright Hockey Center. Princeton is 0-2 in playoff games held at Brown's Meehan Auditorium, as the Tigers fell to Dartmouth 4-2 in last season's ECAC semifinals and to Cornell in the 1986 Ivy League Tournament, both which were hosted by Brown.
Postseason History... Princeton is 13-22-0 all-time in postseason games. That record includes Ivy League, ECAC and EAIAW playoff games. The Tigers are 5-3 in games played at home, 6-6 in neutral site games and 2-12 on the road. ECAC playoff competition began in 1983 and Princeton is 5-13 in ECAC playoff games. Since the ECAC began the best-of-three quarterfinal series', Princeton has played in two series', hosting both, and dropping one to Harvard in 2002 and defeated Yale in 2003.
A Final Look at the Standings... With its loss on Sunday to Harvard, and Brown's win over Yale, Princeton was relegated to fifth in the final ECAC standings and a trip this weekend to face Brown. Harvard and St. Lawrence tied for the league title, with the tiebreaker going to the Crimson. Dartmouth was third.
A Look Ahead... The winner of this weekend's series will advance to the ECAC championship next weekend at Schenectady. The two semifinal games are scheduled for Saturday afternoon and the championship game will be played on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on CN8.
Give Me 21... Saturday's win at Brown was Princeton's 20th win of the 2003-04 season. With the win, Princeton has reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive season, after failing to achieve the mark in the previous 23 seasons that Princeton has had a women's hockey team.
In the Polls... Princeton has been ranked in both of the national polls all season. The Tigers have been as high as seventh and as low as 10th. Brown has bounced in and out of the polls throughout the season, but currently holds down the No. 9 spot.
Ranked Opponents... Princeton is 6-6 this season when facing ranked opponents. The Tigers will have at least two more games against ranked teams as Brown stand 10th in the polls. The highest ranked teams that Princeton has beaten were then No. 2 Harvard and No. 3 Dartmouth.
No Ties... Princeton was the only full-time Division I team that will finish the 2003-04 season without a tie. Sacred Heart, a DI independent that plays primarily a DIII schedule also has no ties. Princeton last went tieless in the 1996-97 season.
Success on the Road... Both Princeton and Brown have better records away from their home rinks than they do when playing at home. Princeton is 11-3 on the road and 8-6 at home, while Brown is 8-4-1 away from Providence and 8-6-1 at home.
Tenacious D... The Princeton defense is fourth in the ECAC and sixth in the nation in scoring defense. The Tigers have allowed a mere 1.94 goals per game in ECAC games and 1.83 goals per game overall. Princeton has only allowed an opponent to score more than three goals in a game twice this season and has kept their opponents at-or-below three goals in the other 27 games.
Kazmaier Watch... Senior Gretchen Anderson became the third Princetonian to be named a candidate for the Patty Kazmaier Award earlier this season. Anderson is Princeton's leading scorer with 30 goals and 18 assists for 48 points, which means she has a hand in almost 50% of Princeton's goal this season. She is currently ranked ninth in the nation in points per game, third in goals per game, and fourth in game-winning goals. Anderson hopes to become the first Princeton player to win the award given in honor of Kazmaier, a 1996 Princeton graduate.
All-Ivy... When the Ivy League announced its 2003-04 women's hockey awards on Tuesday, several Tigers received recognition from the league. Seniors Gretchen Anderson and Megan Van Beusekom were both named first-team All-Ivy, while freshman Kim Pearce took home the league's Rookie of the Year honors. Senior Angela Gooldy was named to the second team and sophomore Heather Jackson was an honorable mention.
Between the Pipes... Senior Megan Van Beusekom was recently named first-team All-Ivy for the third time of her career. She is currently 18-6 on the season with a 1.87 goals-against and a .929 save percentage and holds several Princeton goaltending records.
Sophomore Sensation... Sophomore Heather Jackson posted 12 goals and 16 assists for 26 points this season, more than double her freshman point total of 12 from a season ago. Jackson currently ranks second on the team in scoring.
The Captain... Senior Lisa Rasmussen serves as the team's captain and serves as the first line center, between the potent combination of Anderson and Jackson on the wings.
The Freshman Line... The future of Princeton hockey is bright as three freshman forwards have established themselves among the best in the league. Princeton's second line, from left to right, of Liz Keady, Laura Watt, and Kim Pearce have accounted for 56 points this season. Pearce and Watt each have 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points, while Keady has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points. Pearce was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year.