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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Mercyhurst
Tigers to Wrap '22 With Trip to Mercyhurst
December 06, 2022 | Women's Ice Hockey
at Mercyhurst, Fri., 3 p.m. & Sat., 2 p.m. | Live Video | Int'l Video | Live Stats
Tested from the Start: Six of Princeton's first 12 games have come against national top-10 teams. Saturday's loss at Union was the first loss to an unranked opponent this season, and it came in a game when Princeton outshot Union 89-25 overall and 57-15 on goal.
The Series with Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst isn't a new opponent historically for Princeton but is a new opponent for the current Tigers. Princeton leads the all-time series 11-8-1 overall and 6-5-1 in Erie. Of the 20 games, 16 came in the 2000s, and the teams had home-and-home weekends in 2015 and 2016, the most recent meetings. This will be Princeton's first trip to Erie since Oct. 2015. Princeton won all four games in 2015 and 2016 after Mercyhurst won the last four of the 2000s, last in 2007.
Stat Rankings: Entering the week, Princeton stood No. 10 in the nation in faceoff percentage, winning at the draw 54.1 percent of the time for the team's top stat ranking. Princeton was 13th on the PK, turning aside 86.5 percent of opponents' power-play chances, 14th in scoring defense at 2.17, and 14th in GAA, at 2.152. Individually, junior Sarah Fillier ranked 12th in faceoff wins, at 190, and sophomore netminder Jennifer Olnowich ranked 16th in GAA, at 1.914, and 18th in shutouts, with two.
Checking the Charts: Two players are making moves high up on Princeton's career list. Senior Maggie Connors stands 14th with 65 career goals and is four out of what would be a three-way tie for 12th. Junior Sarah Fillier has 77 career assists, tied for seventh and six out of sixth. With the 77 assists (record is 122) and 127 points (record is 218), Fillier is more than halfway to both records with more than a season and a half to go.
Outshoot 'em: Princeton has outshot its opponent on goal in 10 of 12 games on the season, with the loss at Yale and the tie against Cornell in Nashville as the lone exceptions. On the season, Princeton is averaging 34.4 shots a game to 24.9 for its opponent.
Tournament Success: Princeton has been to the ECAC semifinals, at least, in each of its last three competitive seasons, winning its first ECAC tournament title in 2020 and being the first eighth seed to win a three-game series from the top seed, defeating Harvard last season.
Between the Pipes: Sophomore Jennifer Olnowich has played about 65 percent of the minutes in goal this season with rookie Taylor Hyland playing the other nearly 35 percent. Olnowich has the lower GAA, at 1.91 to 2.17 for Hyland, and Hyland has the edge in save percentage, .921 to .918.
New Scorers: Three Tigers have scored their first career goals this season, in rookies Emerson O'Leary (four), Issy Wunder (two) and Katherine Khramtsov (two).
Nice Addition: Back for her junior season is Sarah Fillier, who last played for Princeton in the 2019-20 season that ended due to the pandemic just before the NCAA tournament. In the meantime, Fillier helped Canada to two IIHF World Championships and Olympic gold. At the Olympics, Fillier co-led Canada in goals (five) and led the team in points (11).
