Princeton University Athletics
No. 8 Women's Hockey Visits Colgate and Cornell Before Exam Break
January 12, 2006 | Women's Ice Hockey
Jan. 12, 2006
PRINCETON - The eighth-ranked Princeton women's hockey team plays on the rod for the second time in as many weekends when it visits Central New York to face Colgate and Cornell this weekend. Princeton, which is winless in four games, will look to reverse the trend against two teams that is has already defeated this season.
Gametracker livestats will be available for both games. The puck drops for Friday's game at Colgate at 7 p.m., while Saturday's at Cornell game is slated for 4 p.m.
The Tigers (9-5-4, 5-2-2 ECACHL) dropped one spot in the uscho.com poll to eighth and two in the USA Today poll to ninth after going 0-2-1 last weekend. That coupled with a tie in its final game before the exam break have Princeton dropping spots in the polls.
Last week the team played three very tight games, but could not get the timely goal when it was needed to pull off a win. On Monday, the Tigers dropped a 2-1 decision at home to Providence, despite outshooting the Friars 31-19. On Saturday Princeton outshot Yale 37-26, but could only manage a 5-5 tie, while on Sunday Princeton pounded the Brown net with 45 shots but could not get the equalizer in a 4-3 loss.
Princeton did score nine goals over the weekend with three players each scoring two goals. Senior Sarah Butsch and freshman Annie Greenwood scored a goal in each of the league games, while sophomore Brittany Salmon scored against Providence and Yale.
The one-point league weekend has Princeton in a tie for second-place in the ECAC Hockey League standings. Princeton, Clarkson and St. Lawrence all have 12 points, but the two North Country teams have a game in hand on the Tigers. Harvard sits in first place with 16 points, but has two games in hand on Princeton and three on the other two. Colgate sits in fifth, just two points out of second, while Brown is one point behind Colgate, and has three-games in hand on Princeton and five on Harvard. The standings are an unknown this early as six of the league's 11 teams have two or less losses. The standings will become much clearer during Princeton and Harvard's exam break as the other teams will catch up in their games played. The games are the third and fourth in a seven-game stretch away from Baker Rink for the Tigers, who next play at home on Feb. 10. In the span, the Tigers play league games this weekend at Colgate and Cornell before taking 17 days off during Princeton's exam break. Princeton resumes play at Quinnipiac on Jan. 31 and has a league weekend at St. Lawrence and Clarkson before returning home.
Princeton is 10-0-2 all-time against Colgate and is 5-0-1 in the series at Colgate's Starr Rink. Princeton picked up a 6-2 win over the Raiders in early December to get back into the win column after the team's tied twice last season. Greenwood recorded a natural hat trick in the first period of the game, and then added a fourth goal in the third period.
Colgate is 7-7-4 overall and 4-1-1 in the league. Colgate was 7-2-2 when the team's met in Princeton, but has not won since. Colgate is winless in five games (0-3-2) and earned a point last weekend in its league series at home with Harvard and Dartmouth. The Raiders fell to the Crimson 5-1, but tied Dartmouth 2-2.
Princeton is 36-19-2 all-time against Cornell and is 13-10-0 in the series at Cornell's Lynah Rink. Princeton has won 11-straight games in the series dating back to the 1999-00 season. Princeton picked up a 7-0 win in their meeting earlier this season. The start of the game was junior Kim Pearce, who came within one assist of setting a Princeton record when she tallied six assists in the win.
Cornell is 5-9 overall and 1-7 in the league. The Big Red was swept last weekend at home by Dartmouth and Harvard, but had won its previous three games, sweeping Bemidji State and defeating Quinnipiac the day after the loss at Princeton.
Following this weekend, Princeton is back in action on Jan. 31 when it travels to Quinnipiac to face its travel-partner. Princeton won the previous meeting 2-1 in early December.