Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Hockey Hosts Colgate in ECACHL Quarterfinals
February 22, 2007 | Women's Ice Hockey
ECACHL Quarterfinals - Colgate at Princeton GAMETIME: Friday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.
SITE: Hobey Baker Rink (Princeton, N.J.)
RECORDS: Princeton (16-10-3, 14-6-2 ECACHL); Colgate (15-14-2, 14-7-1 ECACHL)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 17-0-2 overall.
LAST MEETING: Princeton won 1-0 at home on Feb. 16, 2007.
ADMISSION: Free of charge
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The Princeton women's hockey team opens the postseason Friday night when it begins it best-of-three ECAC Hockey League quarterfinal series against Colgate.
The teams finished just a point apart in the league standings and will vie for a spot in the league semifinals in a week.
Princeton leaped over Colgate in the standings last weekend by defeating the Raiders 1-0 on Friday night at Baker Rink. That win moved the Tigers from fifth in the standings to fourth, where Princeton stayed when it shutout Cornell 3-0 on Saturday afternoon. Colgate rallied back from its loss to Princeton on Friday with a win on Saturday at Quinnipiac.
The Tigers completed the regular season with a 16-10-3 record and went 14-6-2 in league play. Colgate was just a step back in the league standings at 14-7-1 and went 15-14-2 overall. Princeton enters the playoffs on a roll, as the Tigers are unbeaten in four games (3-0-1) and have lost twice in their last nine games. The Tigers started the season unbeaten in 10, then won jus twice in a 10 game span, before it current 6-2-1 stretch. The Tigers have blanked three of their last four games and four of their last seven games.
Princeton's current 16 wins are tied for fifth in the Tiger record book for wins in a season. The Tigers also won 16 games in 1981-82 and 2004-05. Princeton had 17 wins in 1994-95, 20 wins in 2002-03 and 2003-04, and 21 wins last season.
Princeton's league record earned it a home-ice playoff series for the second-straight season and the third time in five years. Since the league adopted its current playoff format, Princeton has won two of five quarterfinal series. Both series wins came at home, including last season's sweep of Colgate at home. Princeton defeated Yale in a series in 2002-03 at home, but lost to Harvard at home in 2001-02, at Brown in 2003-04 and at Yale in 2004-05.
Princeton and Colgate met in the quarterfinals last season at Baker Rink with the Tigers sweeping Colgate to move to the quarterfinals. The Tigers were the second seed a season ago, while Colgate was the seventh seed. Princeton won the opening game 3-0 on the strength of a hat trick from then freshman Christine Foster. Colgate erased an 4-1 deficit to knot the game at 4-4 in the third period but then senior Sarah Butsch scored with less than two minutes remaining to send Princeton to the next round of the playoffs.
Princeton and Colgate will meet for the seventh time in the past two seasons on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. Princeton has taken the previous six meetings and is unbeaten in 17 games against Colgate, sporting a 15-0-2 record against the Raiders.
The teams' first meeting this season came on Nov. 18 at Colgate and Princeton came away with a 3-2 win. The teams traded first period goals before Dineen gave Princeton the lead with a power-play goal in the second period. Junior Brittany Salmon scored the eventual game winner early in the third period before Colgate closed the gap with a late power-play goal. Young made 37 saves, including 21 in the third period for the win.
The teams then met a week ago with freshman Melanie Wallace's first period goal standing up as the game-winner. Her goal came at 8:05 of the first period on the power play as she deflected a shot from senior Laura Watt. Young made 20 saves in the game for the win for Princeton, and also recorded her fourth shutout of the season. It was Princeton's sixth shutout of the season.
A day later the Tigers picked up their second-straight shutout and their third in four games. This time it was sophomore Brittany Parisi earning her second shutout of the season. Junior Brittany Salmon scored a goal and added an assist in the game, while junior Sonja Novak scored the game winner.
The Princeton-Colgate winner will advance to the ECACHL women's championship weekend at the site of the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinal round. The other first round match-ups feature top-seed Dartmouth hosting eighth-seed Rensselaer, second-seeded St. Lawrence hosting local rival and seventh-seeded Clarkson, and third-seeded Harvard hosting Ivy rival and sixth-seeded Yale.