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Sunday, February 27
Cambridge, Mass.
3:00 PM
Princeton University
13-14-5
3
at
2
Harvard
22-9-1
1
2
3
F
Princeton
1
0
2
3
Harvard
1
0
1
2
Senior netminder Rachel McQuigge stopped 94.5 percent of shots on goal in the series and classmate Shannon Griffin had three goals and three assists on the weekend.
Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast
History Made! Princeton Knocks Out No. 6 Harvard, Advances to ECAC Semis
February 27, 2022 | Women's Ice Hockey
The ECAC Hockey tournament began having a best-of-three series for its quarterfinal round in 2002. An eighth-seeded team had never won the series against the top seed in all that time, until Sunday.
With a pair of third-period goals from Maggie Connors and Shannon Griffin, Princeton pulled ahead and held off national No. 6-ranked Harvard's comeback attempt for a 3-2 win to win the series in three games, two days after becoming just the second eighth seed in that two-decade span to even win a game against the top seed. RPI took one game from Cornell in 2019 before the Big Red ultimately took the series in three.
The history-making achievement comes two years - and one season, with the 2020-21 season for Princeton lost to the pandemic - after Princeton won the 2020 ECAC Hockey tournament title, a first in program history. Now, they'll have the chance to do that again, heading to Yale to face the second-seeded Bulldogs on Saturday. The winner will meet the winner between third-seeded Colgate and fourth-seeded Quinnipiac on Sunday, March 6, for the ECAC tournament title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Both the semifinal and final are single elimination.
After its OT goal on Saturday gave Harvard its first lead of the series, the Crimson led for the first time with the clock running on Sunday, with Becca Gilmore getting Harvard on the board just more than eight minutes into the game. That lead stood for just 4:15 before co-captain Sharon Frankel sent home a rebound off a Griffin shot to tie it up.
It stayed 1-1 through the rest of the first period, all of the second and into the third before Connors scored 3:21 into the final period, taking a pass forward from Stef Wallace, getting past her Harvard defender and slipping it past Crimson netminder Lindsay Reed to put Princeton on top, 2-1
Five and a half minutes later, Griffin, a co-captain and Massachusetts native, scored her third goal and sixth point of the series, sending a shot along the goal line that got past Reed for what ultimately became the game-winning goal.
In the final 11:07 after Griffin's goal to give Princeton a two-goal lead, the Tigers withstood a goal that was waved off due to goalie interference with less than four minutes to go and a good goal from Anne Bloomer with 1:10 left that made it 3-2.
Tiger netminder Rachel McQuigge made 38 saves on Harvard's 40 shots on goal, giving McQuigge 103 saves on 109 shots over the three-game series, a save percentage of .945 that exceeds even her season-long .939 save percentage that would stand as the second-best in a season in program history, behind only the .950 from former teammate Stephanie Neatby '20 in 2016-17.
With a pair of third-period goals from Maggie Connors and Shannon Griffin, Princeton pulled ahead and held off national No. 6-ranked Harvard's comeback attempt for a 3-2 win to win the series in three games, two days after becoming just the second eighth seed in that two-decade span to even win a game against the top seed. RPI took one game from Cornell in 2019 before the Big Red ultimately took the series in three.
The history-making achievement comes two years - and one season, with the 2020-21 season for Princeton lost to the pandemic - after Princeton won the 2020 ECAC Hockey tournament title, a first in program history. Now, they'll have the chance to do that again, heading to Yale to face the second-seeded Bulldogs on Saturday. The winner will meet the winner between third-seeded Colgate and fourth-seeded Quinnipiac on Sunday, March 6, for the ECAC tournament title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Both the semifinal and final are single elimination.
Look back at our goals and the final seconds from our history-making win today in the @ecachockey quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/cOrhULmdn8
— Princeton Hockey (@PWIH) February 27, 2022
After its OT goal on Saturday gave Harvard its first lead of the series, the Crimson led for the first time with the clock running on Sunday, with Becca Gilmore getting Harvard on the board just more than eight minutes into the game. That lead stood for just 4:15 before co-captain Sharon Frankel sent home a rebound off a Griffin shot to tie it up.
It stayed 1-1 through the rest of the first period, all of the second and into the third before Connors scored 3:21 into the final period, taking a pass forward from Stef Wallace, getting past her Harvard defender and slipping it past Crimson netminder Lindsay Reed to put Princeton on top, 2-1
Five and a half minutes later, Griffin, a co-captain and Massachusetts native, scored her third goal and sixth point of the series, sending a shot along the goal line that got past Reed for what ultimately became the game-winning goal.
In the final 11:07 after Griffin's goal to give Princeton a two-goal lead, the Tigers withstood a goal that was waved off due to goalie interference with less than four minutes to go and a good goal from Anne Bloomer with 1:10 left that made it 3-2.
Tiger netminder Rachel McQuigge made 38 saves on Harvard's 40 shots on goal, giving McQuigge 103 saves on 109 shots over the three-game series, a save percentage of .945 that exceeds even her season-long .939 save percentage that would stand as the second-best in a season in program history, behind only the .950 from former teammate Stephanie Neatby '20 in 2016-17.
Team Stats
PRIN
HARV
Shots
27
40
PPG
0
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
1
0
Penalty Mins
2
0
Faceoffs Won
32
27
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
1
+/-
0
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
1
+/-
+1
Goals
0
Sh
0
A
2
+/-
-1
Goals
1
Sh
4
A
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Ice HockeyF
/ Women's Ice HockeyF
/ Women's Ice Hockey
G
/ Women's Ice Hockey
D
/ Women's Ice HockeyReflections from the Princeton Athletics Class of 2024
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