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Yale Women's Hockey Uses Early Burst, Late Goals To Claim 6-3 Win
February 03, 2007 | Women's Ice Hockey
A dominant edge in faceoffs and two third-period goals by Denise Soesilo led the Yale women's hockey team to a 6-3 win Saturday afternoon at Baker Rink. The loss sends Princeton to 13-10-2 overall, 11-6-1 in league play. Yale has the same overall record, but is 8-8-2 in the league.
Princeton was outshot 27-23 for the game, although it earned slight advantages in both the second and third periods. It was the first period which put Princeton in a big hole, and although the Tigers would rally from two deficits they faced, they didn't have enough in the tank to come back from a third one. A key stat for Yale was faceoffs, as the Bulldogs held a 40-24 edge in that department. Yale also fought off two power plays and scored on one of its four chances.
Yale's Kristin Savard opened the scoring 11:30 into the first period when she rebounded a shot by Sheila Zingler and shot the puck to the right of Kristen Young. The excitement was short-lived for Yale, though, as Stephanie Denino scored the second goal of both the weekend and her career when she fired in a shot from the blue line 14 seconds later. Yale goaltender Shivon Zilis appeared to be screened and dropped too late to stop the shot.
Yale, which held a 22-6 advantage in first-period faceoffs, took a 2-1 lead when Regan Gilbride took a pass from Zingler and fired a wrister over Young's left shoulder. That goal came at 14:53, and Christina Sharun followed 23 seconds later with a goal off a low shot from the left circle.
Princeton cut the deficit to 3-2 prior to the end of the period when Annie Greenwood took the puck, cut to the right of Zillis and scored the sixth goal of her season.
Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal brought in freshman goaltender Brittany Parisi to start the second period, and she almost immediately became the goalie of record because of a fantastic individual effort by senior Kim Pearce. She singlehandedly cut through the Yale defense and fired a shot that was turned aside by Zilis. Undetered, Pearce followed her shot with another that went off Zilis' pad, but as she was being taken down, Pearce got her stick on one more shot and fired in her 12th goal of the season 29 seconds into the period.
Yale rebounded with a rebound of its own. This time, Zingler was the recipient of her own miss, as she claimed a rebound off Parisi's pad and put the puck into the left side of the net to claim the Bulldogs' third lead of the game 2:18 into the period, this time at 4-3. The period would end with that score, although both teams traded moments of dominance during the second half of the period,
Yale built the lead to 5-3 when Denise Soesilo finished Yale's first penalty of the game early in the third quarter, came out of the box and stole a pass between Princeton's two defensemen. She took it alone at Parisi, who came out and challenged the Yale freshman to make a great play. Soesilo was up to the challenge, sliding the puck just inside the left post for her sixth goal of the season.
Soesilo clinched the game with 1:28 remaining, and she did it with a much simpler shot. With Parisi out of the goal for an extra attacker, Yale fended off the Tigers and Alyssa Clark was able to control the puck in the defensive zone and get a pass out to Soesilo at center ice. One well-placed wrister later, and Yale was celebrating a crucial win as it battles to maintain its place in the ECAC playoffs. Meanwhile, Princeton has left itself with minimal, if any, margin for error as it tries to gain home ice for the first round of the playoffs. Princeton entered Saturday three points behind St. Lawrence, a team it will play as part of its North Country weekend coming up. The Tigers are at Clarkson next Saturday at 3 p.m. and will take on St. Lawrence Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Saints swept their weekend series and moved to third place in the league standings, while Colgate was swept and is now two points ahead of Princeton with four games remaining. Princeton and Colgate will meet in the Tigers' next home game, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m.