Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Hockey Plays Two at Syracuse Prior to Holiday Break
December 10, 2009 | Women's Ice Hockey
GAMETIMES: Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 12 at 4 p.m.
RECORDS: Princeton (7-6-1, 5-4-1 ECAC); Syracuse (9-7-1, 4-2-0 ECAC)
SERIES HISTORY: The teams have never met
PRINCETON (12/10/09) - The Princeton women's hockey team closes out the first part of the season this weekend with a pair of games at Syracuse on Friday and Saturday. The games will mark the first time the Tigers and Orange have met on the ice.
Princeton will look to bounce back in the win column this weekend after dropping both ends of last weekend's series at St. Lawrence and Clarkson as the Tigers were held to just a single goal. On Friday at St. Lawrence, the Saints broke a 1-1 tie with five minutes left in regulation and added an empty netter to top the Tigers. A day later, Clarkson got on the scoreboard midway through the second period and added two third period goals in a 3-0 win.
Sophomore Danielle DiCesare tallied Princeton's lone goal over the weekend and continues to top the team with 15 points on seven goals and eight assists. Her seven goals is tied for the team lead in goals with classmate Heather Landry, while sophomore Paula Romanchuk has a team-high nine assists. The trio sits atop the Princeton scoring charts and they are the only three members of the team with double-digit point totals.
The Tigers fell to fifth in the ECAC standings following the losses, one point behind a third-place tie between Harvard and Quinnipiac. Clarkson and Cornell top the standings with 16 points apiece, four better than both Harvard and Quinnipiac. Rensselaer, St. Lawrence and Dartmouth complete the top eight positions. There are no league games scheduled until Dec. 31, when Princeton visits Quinnipiac.
Princeton's two games this weekend will mark the first played between Princeton and Syracuse. It marks the first time Princeton will play a new opponent since the 2007-08 season when the Tigers faced Boston University for the first time. After playing Syracuse, Princeton will have faced 29 of the 33 Division I women's hockey teams, leaving Bemidji State, Minnesota State, North Dakota and Robert Morris as teams Princeton has not faced.
Syracuse is 9-7-1 overall and 4-2-0 in College Hockey American entering the weekend. The Orange opened the season 0-4-1 but has won nine of the 12 games played since to climb back above .500. Syracuse split a league series last weekend against Wayne State, falling 3-1 and winning 3-2 at home. Syracuse and Princeton have played three common opponents this season in Colgate, Rennselaer and Union. Princeton beat Colgate and Union, and tied RPI, while Syracuse has two wins over both RPI and Union, but lost at Colgate.