Princeton University Athletics
No. 6 Women's Hockey Avenges Earlier Loss, Tops Brown 3-2
February 24, 2006 | Women's Ice Hockey
Feb. 24, 2006
Box Score
PRINCETON - Goals by Sarah Butsch, Marykate Oakley and Laura Watt pushed the No. 6 Princeton women's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Brown, pushing the Tigers' win streak to six games and avenging an earlier loss at Brown. Now locked into the No. 2 spot in the ECAC playoffs, Princeton will battle Saturday for the Ivy League championship.
St. Lawrence's 3-0 win over Harvard guaranteed home ice for the Saints as long as they stay in the ECAC playoffs. Princeton will be the No. 2 seed, and will host a best-of-3 quarterfinal next weekend, with games being played Friday at 7:00, Saturday at 4:00 and, if necessary, Sunday at 4:00. The quarterfinal opponent will be determined tomorrow.
Also determined tomorrow will be the 2005-06 Ivy League champion, as Princeton and Yale will square off for sole possession of the title. Princeton, which tied the Bulldogs 5-5 earlier this season in New Haven, holds a one-point lead over Yale in the Ivy standings. Thus, a win or a tie would give Princeton the title, while a loss would leave Yale as the Ivy champs.
Princeton gained two points in both the ECAC and Ivy standings by topping Brown Friday night. The Tigers outshot Brown 9-2 in the opening period and held a 1-0 lead on Butsch's ninth goal of the season. The play was started by Brittany Salmon, who won a tangle for the puck in the Brown defensive zone and hit Butsch with a centering pass to the right of goalie O'Hara Shipe. Butsch did the rest, finding an opening for a 1-0 lead.
Brown's Keaton Zucker took a pass from Rylee Olewinski at the 4:11 mark of the second period to even the score at 1-1, but a terrific shorthanded effort by Oakley gave Princeton possession of a 2-1 lead. Oakley went from center ice into the front of the Brown crease, where she skated to Shipe's left and shot between the pads for the 2-1 lead. Watt scored the critical third goal off assists from Katherine Dineen and Sonja Novak. Watt blasted a low shot from just inside the blue line, and the puck found its way through a crowd in front of the net and past Shipe. A late shorthanded goal by Hayley Moore, which came with eight seconds remaining, gave Brown one last hope, but a faceoff win for the Tigers iced the victory.
Princeton, which improved to 18-6-4 with the win, outshot Brown 26-14. Roxanne Gaudiel played another solid game in goal, making 12 saves for the win.
Saturday's showdown with Yale will begin at 4 p.m. Seniors from both teams will be recognized prior to faceoff.