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Princeton University
Yale
Players Mentioned
Heartbreaking Finish in Finale for Women's Hockey
February 21, 2015 | Women's Ice Hockey
Box Score
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (2/21/15) - The Princeton women's hockey team had a heartbreaking conclusion in the regular-season finale, falling 2-1 to Yale. The Tigers needed a win or tie to win the Ivy League title, instead they will finish in second place to Harvard.
In the ECAC, Princeton will be the No. 6 seed and will face travel partner and No. 3 seed Quinnipiac in the quarterfinal series next weekend. It will be a best-of-three series with the teams facing off on Friday at 3:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m., if necessary.
Coming off of a win over cross-town rival Quinnipiac, Yale defeated the No. 5 ranked team 3-0 behind a 37-save performance from Jaimie Leonoff. And the netminder would come up to task again today, holding the Tigers to just a single goal.
Krista Yip-Chuck gave the Bulldogs the lead with the only goal of the first period. Phoebe Staenz fought for the puck along the left boards and Hanna Åström was the recipient of the freed up puck. Åström skated to the left pipe and slid the puck across the paint to Yip-Chuck who went backdoor for the goal on her team's second shot of the period at 9:43.
Junior Jaimie McDonell tied the game early in the second frame with her 11th marker of the season. She won her own draw back to freshman Emily Achterkirch. Acterkirch ripped a shot and sophomore Hilary Lloyd tried to redirect the puck and it rebounded to McDonell who was able to finish the chance.
The game-winning goal came during an odd sequence of events and was an delayed penalty, extra attacker goal. The teams were skating 4x4 as the result of matching penalties. Staenz had a run at the goal and had her first shot blocked by senior Ali Pankowski and she delivered a hit and then Kimberly Newell stopped the rebound. A delayed penalty on Pankowski led to Leonoff skating to the bench and giving her an extra attacker. A rifle from the point by Taylor Marchin flew threw traffic and into the goal with Yip-Chuck and Mallory Souliotis being credited with the assists.
With time winding down, Princeton pulled Newell for the extra attacker with 1:02 remaining and with a face off taking place in the Yale zone, called a timeout with 50 seconds to play. Princeton won the face off and both Cassidy Tucker and Kelsey Koelzer had shots on goal but couldn't solve Leonoff.
Both teams were 0 for 3 on the power play, while Princeton outshot Yale 29-26.
Leonoff made 28 saves for Yale, while Newell made 24 for Princeton.
No. 7 seed Yale will face No. 2 Harvard in the ECAC playoffs next weekend.