Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Puck Drops on Women's Hockey Season This Weekend
October 18, 2007 | Women's Ice Hockey
Princeton vs. No. 7 Boston College
GAMETIME: Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.
2007 RECORDS: Princeton (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECACH); Boston College (3-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 16-0-4, is 8-0-2 at home
LAST MEETING: Teams tied 2-2 on Oct. 20, 2006 at BC
STREAK: Two ties, Princeton is unbeaten in 20 (16-0-4)
Princeton vs. Quinnipiac
GAMETIME: Sunday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m.
2007 RECORDS: Princeton (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECACH); Quinnipiac (1-1-0, 0-0-0 ECACH)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 5-0-0, is 3-0-0 at home
LAST MEETING: Princeton won 6-1 on Jan. 9, 2007 at home
STREAK: Princeton has won the last five meetings
Multimedia
LIVESTATS: Gamewatcher
LIVE VIDEO: TigerZone
The 2007-08 Princeton women's hockey season kicks off this weekend with two games at Hobey Baker Rink. The Tigers drop the puck for the first time this season on Friday night when seventh-ranked Boston College comes to town and the league slate opens up two days later against Quinnipiac at 2 p.m.
Live video for both games, as well as all women's hockey home and select road games, will be available in TigerZone, the home of streaming video for Princeton Athletics. For more information, click here.
The Tigers open up at home for the first time since the 2002-03 season when the Tigers opened the season by hosting Wayne State. Princeton has faced Hockey East opponents in their season opener in the four seasons since and will do so again on Friday. Princeton is 2-0-3 in its last five openers, a span that includes consecutive ties against Boston College in the last two seasons. Princeton tied Providence to open the season prior to that, and downed a Connecticut a year earlier.
Princeton was 16-12-3 a season ago and finished in the top four of the ECAC standings, before falling in the conference quarterfinals to Colgate. The Tigers return three of their top five and six of their top 10 leading scorers from last year. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the 2007-08 Princeton women's hockey outlook, which details the Tiger roster.
Princeton played a pair of two-period scrimmages last Saturday in preparation for the season. Things began with a 3-0 shutout of Yale, in which seniors Lizzle Keady, Marykate Oakley and junior Annie Greenwood scored, with senior Brittany Salmon and sophomore Stephanie Denino both garnering two assists. In the second game, Princeton and Brown skated to a 1-1 tie with Princeton's goal coming from junior Christine Foster on a feed from classmate Monica Brennan.
The Tigers open the weekend against Boston College unbeaten in 20 previous meetings with the Eagles. Princeton is 16-0-2 against BC and is 8-0-2 in its home building in the series. The last three games between the teams have all gone to overtime, with Princeton winning 3-2 at Boston College in 2004-05, a 2-2 tie in Buffalo to open the 2005-06 season, and a 2-2 tie at BC to open last season.
Boston College enters this season following a 24-win season last year that ended with a berth in NCAA Frozen Four, where the Eagles fell in double-overtime in the semifinals. BC has played three times this season and is 3-0, defeating three teams from the ECAC. Boston College has wins at Rensselaer and Quinnipiac, and at home against Colgate.
Quinnipiac comes to town on Sunday for the first league game of the season. Princeton is 5-0-0 all-time against the Bobcats, winning once before Quinnipiac joined the league, and taking all four meetings since. Last year Princeton won 6-3 at Quinnipiac and 6-1 at home. The Bobcats, who finished 10th in the league standings last season, are 1-1 on the season with a win over Northeastern and a loss to Boston College.
Princeton continues its season-opening homestand next weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
The Princeton women's hockey program continued its run of recent success last season by finishing in the top four in the ECAC Hockey standings and garnering home ice for the first round of the league playoffs for the second straight season. Princeton won 16 games last season, the fifth year in a row the Tigers have won 16 or more games. With 93 wins over that span, the Tigers have averaged better than 18 wins a season.
Success for Princeton in that stretch has been centered around strong team defense, timely scoring and exceptional goaltending, and that will once again be the recipe as the Tigers enter the 2007-08 season. However, as familiar faces graduate and new faces join the team, there are always adjustments to be made and areas to address.
To keep the successful run going, head coach Jeff Kampersal and his staff will have to overcome the loss of five graduating players whose influence on the Princeton hockey program will be felt for years to come. The group consisted of forwards Kim Pearce and Alison Ralph and defensemen Kate Hession, Dina McCumber and Laura Watt.
“The Class of 2007 contributed greatly to our on-ice success the last four seasons,” says Kampersal. “More importantly, off the ice, they represented themselves and our program with character and integrity. They excelled in the classroom and took advantage of all the opportunities offered to them here at Princeton.”
Filling the void left by the quintet will not be easy as the group included the likes of Pearce ? a former Ivy League Rookie and Player of the Year with 127 career points, Watt ? a two-time member of the All-ECAC team, and McCumber ? a two-time All-Ivy defender.
Princeton will rely heavily on its senior class to pick up where those who graduated left off. The group includes three of Princeton's top scorers in Lizzie Keady, Marykate Oakley and Brittany Salmon as well as role players Sonja Novak and Micol Martinelli.
“The senior class is full of leaders who each bring diverse talents to the team,” says Kampersal. “They are intelligent, versatile, responsible, and they can all really play. We expect them to build on the traditional team culture and make this year's squad their own.”
Keady will serve as team captain this season. She has been an integral part of the Tiger lineup since her freshman year. Keady entered Princeton as a member of the Class of 2007, but took a year off while playing with the U.S. National team prior to the 2006 Olympics.
Kampersal and the Tiger coaching staff will look to Keady, as well as all their returning players, to welcome the four members of the freshman class.
“The freshmen are hungry to be Tigers,” says Kampersal. “They are so excited about playing top-notch college hockey while receiving the best education in the world. We look forward to having them as a part of our program.”
FORWARDS (RETURNING - 10, LOST - 2, NEWCOMERS - 2)
Princeton will look to find its scoring touch again after the team's total goal output fell by 24 goals last season. That, in addition to the loss of a 127-point career scorer in Pearce, means Princeton will look to its returning group of forwards to pick up the slack and contribute more offensively.
“Our offense will be led by our upperclass players,” says Kampersal. “They have been around the program and league for some time now, they know the challenges and they know the effort required to win. We expect significant contributions from our underclass players as well. We expect them to be leaders, grind, and pressure the puck.”
Oakley enters the upcoming season as Princeton's leading returning scorer from a season ago. The senior has recorded 29 points in each of the last two seasons and has 68 points in 90 games in her career. Oakley also was a force for the Tigers on the power play, as she led the team with six power-play goals. She also netted a shorthanded goal and two game winners.
Classmate Lizzie Keady has the most career points on the team entering the season as she has scored 29 goals and 41 assists for 70 points. Keady had a career-high 28 points as a sophomore before taking the 2005-06 season off. She returned to the lineup last season and had 16 points, including two shorthanded goals.
Senior Brittany Salmon will also be leaned on offensively as she has had a knack for scoring important goals throughout her career. Salmon registered 12 points last season, but of her seven goals, three were game winners. She also scored twice shorthanded.
Princeton will look to see junior Annie Greenwood, the 2006 Ivy League and ECACHL Rookie of the Year, bounce back as a junior. Greenwood posted 34 points on 25 goals and nine assists as a freshman, including 12 power-play goals and five game winners, but was held to just 10 points a season ago.
Sophomore Melanie Wallace had a strong freshman campaign for the Tigers and was Princeton's fourth-leading scorer last season and second among returning players. Wallace scored eight goals and added nine assists for 17 points and scored five power-play goals. She also scored two game winners and added a game-tying goal.
Junior Christine Foster and senior Sonja Novak were also important contributors offensively last year. Both had five points, with Novak scoring a game-winning goal.
Senior Micol Martinelli, junior Monica Brennan and sophomore Julie Flynn round out the group of returning forwards. Martinelli played in all 31 games last season and chipped in a pair of assists, while Brennan scored her first career goal, a game winner, last season. Flynn split time between forward and defense and had one assist.
Two freshmen, Caroline Park and Jenna Hauca, will join the Princeton forward group this season.
DEFENSE (RETURNING - 4, LOST - 3, NEWCOMERS - 2)
Princeton's success throughout the past several seasons has centered around strong team defense, and the Tigers will again look to clamp down their competition this season despite the loss of three excellent defensemen.
“In the graduation of the Class of 2007, we lost three of the better defensive players [Watt, McCumber, Hession] that we have had in the program's history,” says Kampersal. “But we are thrilled to add Sasha Sherry and Laura Martindale to an already formidable defensive corps of returning players.”
The six defensemen on the Princeton roster are comprised of two juniors, two sophomore and two freshmen. Leading the group will be junior Katherine Dineen. As a sophomore Dineen recorded eight points, scoring twice on the power play and adding eight assists. She is also leads all returning defensemen in ice time as she has contributed from her first game of her freshman season. Dineen was named to the ECACHL All-Rookie team that season.
Sophomores Stephanie Denino and Maddie Endicott emerged as key defensive contributors last season by adding more mobility, size and strength to the Princeton blue line. Denino recorded three points and was voted the team's Rookie of the Year by her teammates, while Endicott also saw important time for the team and had an assist.
Senior Mariesa Mason adds depth at the defensive position, while forwards Brennan and Flynn can also play back on the blue line.
Joining the returning defenders will be freshmen Martindale and Sherry. Both players bring size, intelligence and toughness to the Princeton defense.
GOALTENDING (RETURNING - 1, LOST - 1, NEWCOMERS - 1)
Princeton will rely heavily on junior Kristen Young to carry the workload in the Princeton goal this season. Young emerged as the starting goalkeeper last season as a sophomore following a year in a backup role as a freshman.
Young was 11-5-3 in the Princeton net with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage last season. She also recorded four shutouts. While she did play the bulk of the minutes, Brittany Parisi also saw time in net, but an injury has forced her to step aside from the game, leaving Young as Princeton's lone goaltender entering the season.
Junior Megan Murray will backup Young.