Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Tigers Tabbed Third in Preseason ECAC Hockey Poll
September 20, 2016 | Women's Ice Hockey
Quinnipiac was the top choice by the league coaches with six first-place votes and 114 cotes, while Clarkson was second with 109 points and four first-place votes. Behind Princeton was Colgate with 96, Harvard with 74 and Cornell with 72 to round out the top half.
"Based off of our success last year we are looking forward to this year," Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal said. "We do have to determine our identity over the next few weeks, and the beginning games of the season to see exactly where we are at. We do think we are talented but hopefully we are as hardworking as we were last year and as relentless as we were."
Princeton is the only team that has two players named to the preseason all-league team in senior defender Kelsey Koelzer and sophomore forward Karlie Lund.
Lund was the 2015-16 ECAC Rookie of the Year and a finalist for Best Forward. She was named both first-team all-league and all-rookie team. Lund was the first freshman to lead the league in scoring in five years and earned Rookie of the Month three times; Rookie of the Week five times; and Player of the Week on one occasion. She finished with 39 points and ranked third nationally among her rookie counterparts at 1.18 points per game. She tallied five game-winning goals, two game-tying goals and four power-play goals. Earning a +16 on-ice rating, she won 63 percent of her face-offs.
The ECAC Defender of the Year, Koelzer was a finalist for the league's Player of the Year, was first-team all-league, first-team All-America and a top-10 candidate for the Patty Kazmaier. A member of the US Under-22 Team, Koelzer is the backbone of the Tigers sparking both ends of the ice and anchoring both special teams. She was second in the nation in points per game for a defender, averaging 1.00 points per game totaling 33 on 17 goals and 16 assists. Defensively she put together 61 blocks and was a +25.
"We haven't talked about last year at all. We really won't. There will be some signs off it with new banners up int he rink which will be cool and new renovations in the locker rooms and hallways with pictures that will remind us of last year but hopefully it will provide motivation to duplicate the effort and then some."
The Tigers open the 2016-17 season at Providence on Oct. 22 and host St. Lawrence in the home opener on Nov. 4.
2. Clarkson (4) 109
3. Princeton (2) 102
4. Colgate 96
5. Harvard 74
6. Cornell 72
7. St. Lawrence 68
8. Rensselaer 48
9. Yale 45
10. Dartmouth 31
11. Brown 19
12. Union 14
G - Lovisa Selander, Rensselaer
D - Kelsey Koelzer, Princeton
D - Micah Hart, Cornell
F - T.T. Cianfarano, Quinnipiac
F - Cayley Mercer, Clarkson
F - Karlie Lund, Princeton