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Gutsy Effort Falls Short For Women's Hockey vs. No. 1 Harvard
February 15, 2008 | Women's Ice Hockey
Feb. 15 was "Think Pink" night at Baker Rink, but inside the Princeton women's hockey locker room, it was "Think Upset" night. The Princeton Tigers put forth an upset-worthy effort, outshooting the No. 1 Harvard Crimson 31-24 and staying even for the majority of the contest, but a late flurry sent the top-ranked Crimson to a 3-1 victory.
The loss drops the fifth-place Tigers to 12-9-5, 10-7-2 in the ECAC hockey league, while Harvard has all but clinched the top seed with a 24-1 record and a 19-0 mark in the Ivy League. With only the top four hosting quarterfinal series, Princeton faces a must-win situation Saturday at Baker Rink when it takes on the fourth-place Dartmouth Big Green at 4 p.m. Princeton currently has 22 points in the ECAC, while Dartmouth has 25 points and would be impossible to catch with a win over the Tigers Saturday.
Princeton, clad in pink jerseys to benefit the battle against breast cancer, got off on the right foot against the impressive Crimson, although it didn't look that way at first. Harvard's Sarah Wilson appeared to have a breakaway in the first period, but she was whistled for offsides as she skated towards Princeton goalie Kristen Young. She fired a shot in the top right corner of the net, but instead of a goal, she received a two-minute delay of game penalty. The Tigers took advantage when Annie Greenwood found Brittany Salmon in front of the net for a goal at the 8:08 mark. The score thrilled an excited Baker crowd, which grew in excitement as every tense minute was played.
Sarah Vaillancourt tied the score at 1 with a tough-angled shot into an empty net. Young saved a shot by Jenny Brine, and the puck bounced free to the right of the goal. Vaillancourt didn't appear to have much shooting room, but she made the most of it.
That would be the final goal for more than 30 minutes of game action. Princeton outshot Harvard 11-7 in the first period and 13-9 in the second period, but Christina Kessler turned away each shot after the tying goal. On one Princeton power play, a rebound was pushed inches wide, but the Tigers never let down and kept the pressure up.
Unfortunately, it was a bit of Crimson pressure that would lead to the game winner. The Princeton penalty kill, which had been brilliant for most of the game, had trouble clearing one puck with less than six minutes remaining in the game. Instead of getting a line change, the Tigers were suddenly faced with a bad numbers situation. Caitlin Cahow stole the puck and found Brine skating towards the goal. Her shot was saved by Young, but there was nobody to deal with Kate Buesser, who stuffed home the puck with 5:09 remaining to give Harvard its first lead of the night.
Princeton would manage a late charge with an empty net, but Randi Griffin eventually put the game away with a late empty-net tally.