St. Lawrence Claims Nationally Ranked Showdown, Tops Tigers 3-1 In Princeton Home Opener

Friday, November 4

6:00 PM

Princeton University

3-1-1, 1-1-1ECAC

St. Lawrence

8-0-1, 3-0-0ECAC

St. Lawrence

Princeton

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

St. Lawrence Claims Nationally Ranked Showdown, Tops Tigers 3-1 In Princeton Home Opener

November 04, 2016 | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

In a bit of irony, the 2016-17 Princeton Tigers played their first home game of the season against the team that they faced in their final three games at Baker Rink a year ago. With both St. Lawrence and the Tigers ranked in the Top 10 nationally and coming into Friday's game unbeaten, it figured to be a good early-season test.

The sixth-ranked Saints (8-0-1, 3-0-0 ECAC) scored once in the opening period and added two second period goals to take a 3-0 lead before the Tigers' Kiersten Falck scored her first goal of the season, but it wouldn't be enough to end St. Lawrence's unbeaten run. The Saints left Baker Rink with a 3-1 victory, while Princeton suffered its first loss and fell to 3-1-1, 1-1-1 in the ECAC.

A year ago the two teams met at Baker Rink in a memorable ECAC quarterfinal series. All three games were decided by one goal with the Saints winning the decisive final game, 4-3, in overtime. With the line of senior Brooke Webster and juniors Hannah Miller and Kennedy Marchment dominating at times, particularly on the power play, the Saints proved to be too tough for a young Tigers squad that featured three first-year players on defense.

St. Lawrence scored just once in seven power-play attempts, but the Saints generated 11 shots on goal and put constant pressure on Princeton goalie Alysia DaSilva (3-1-1). The junior from Oakville, Ontario had a strong game in net, stopping 38 of 41 shots.

The Tigers unveiled banners for earning an Ivy League championship and NCAA Tournament last season at the start of the game and the two teams played at a high pace for the first ten minutes, trading scoring chances in a tight-checking affair.

St. Lawrence freshman defenseman Dakota Golde opened the scoring midway through the first, deflecting a point shot by Hannah Miller to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. St. Lawrence took over things in the second, outshooting the Tigers 14-9 and scoring twice. Sophomore Justine Rayes scored on the power play 8:54 into the period on a tic tac toe passing play from Kennedy Marchment and Brooke Webster to make it 2-0. Nadine Edney was then credited with a goal at 13:12 of the second when a puck bounced in off a Princeton defender to make the score, 3-0.

The Tigers scored their only goal moments after killing of a Saints' power play when Falck deflected Kelsey Koelzer's shot from the point past Saints goalie Grace Harrison with 1:15 left in the game.

Harrison, a sophomore from Auckland, New Zealand, finished with 27 saves in raising her record to 8-0-1 on the year.

Princeton returns to action at Baker Rink tomorrow afternoon when they host Clarkson on Denna Laing Day; the game will begin at 3 pm.