.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Dartmouth
Players Mentioned
Princeton Rallies for 2-2 Tie with Dartmouth
January 31, 2015 | Women's Ice Hockey
BOX SCORE
PRINCETON, N.J. (1/30/15) - The calendar will tell you that it's the last weekend of January and that the ECAC women's hockey playoffs are still four weeks away. With Princeton and Dartmouth both looking to make up ground and claim the final home playoff spot tonight's game at Hobey Baker Rink had a playoff feel to it.
In seventh-place heading to the weekend, the Big Green (11-9-1, 6-7-2) scored the game's first two goals before Princeton senior Brianna Leahy scored in the second followed by a Molly Contini equalizer in the third as the teams battled to a 2-2 draw.
With the tie the Tigers (10-10-2, 8-6-1) maintain their hold on the sixth spot - three points behind Cornell and St. Lawrence who are tied for fourth place. The top four teams in the league will earn the right to host a quarterfinal playoff series.
Coming off a 4-2 loss to the nation's top-ranked team Boston College on Monday night, the Tigers were playing their first ECAC game since January 10 and looked a bit sluggish in the first period.
Dartmouth took advantage withith 13:02 left in the period. Laura Stacey forced a turnover in the left face-off circle and sent a quick shot into the net for her eighth goal of the year.
Things might have been worse had it not been for the goaltending of Princeton's Kimberly Newell. The junior recorded 11 of her 34 saves in the first period to allow the Tigers to exit the period trailing just 1-0.
The Big Green would make it 2-0 with a power-play goal midway through the second. The Tigers just missed tying the game at 1-1 when Dartmouth sophomore goalie Robyn Chemago made two saves on the doorstop against freshman Kiersten Falck.
After a Tigers' penalty, sophomore Eleni Tebano made it 2-0 with her second goal of the year on a nice passing play with Kennedy Ottenbreit and Lindsey Allen getting the assists.
The Tigers, who had begun to put some pressure on Chemago before Tebano's goal, would get on the board with 4:05 left in the second on a power play of their own.
With Dartmouth's Catherine Berghuis serving a penalty for tripping, defender Ali Pankowski unloaded with a shot from the point. Chemago stopped that shot as well as two rebound attempts by Morgan Sly before Leahy was able to get a stick on the puck as it lay in the crease. A video review confirmed the Princeton goal, the senior's fourth of the year.
Despite a lopsided 22-10 shot advantage for the Tigers, they would manage just the one goal in the second period.
The equalizer would come with 9:07 left in the third.
Junior Kelsey Koelzer got things started with a cross ice pass at the top of the Dartmouth zone to Jaimie McDonnell. McDonnell's wrist shot from the point was deflected by Contini for the sophomore's team-leading 13th goal.
The Tigers had some anxious moments late in the game, after receiving a slashing penalty with 38 seconds left in the third period.
With the penalty carrying over into overtime the Big Green were able to get the period's only shot when defender Emma Korbs took a shot from the point that Newell saw all the way.
The Tigers best chance to score in overtime came with 24 seconds left when sophomore Hillary Lloyd was sprung for a breakaway but the sophomore's backhand shot went over Chemago and over the crossbar.
Princeton faces Harvard (15-3-2, 12-1-1), which moved past Quinnipiac and into first place with a 2-1 overtime win over the Bobcats tonight, on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Hobey Baker Rink.