Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Rensselaer
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Women's Hockey Team to Host RPI, Union This Weekend
November 28, 2023 | Women's Ice Hockey
Six ECAC Hockey points are on the table for the No. 12-ranked Princeton women's hockey team this weekend when the Tigers host Rensselaer on Friday and Union on Saturday at Baker Rink.
vs. Rensselaer, Friday, 6 p.m. | ESPN+ | NBC Sports Philadelphia | Int'l Video | Tickets | Live Stats | Fan Information | Game Program
vs. Union, Saturday, 3 p.m. | ESPN+ & TSN+ | Int'l Video | Tickets | Live Stats | Fan Information | Game Program
In the Rankings: Princeton is No. 12 in both the USCHO poll and the USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll this week. ECAC Hockey had seven teams in each poll, giving the league nearly half the teams in the poll. Colgate was fourth in both, Clarkson fifth, Quinnipiac seventh, Cornell ninth in USCHO and eighth in USA Hockey/The Rink Live, St. Lawrence eighth in USCHO and ninth in USA Hockey/The Rink Live, Princeton 12th in both, and Yale 14th with USCHO and 13th in USA Hockey/The Rink Live.
Team Effort: Princeton has seen 12 players score goals over the first six weekends of play with Sarah Fillier's seven goals leading the way and Issy Wunder (4G/9A/13P), Emerson O'Leary (5G/6A/11P) and Fillier (7G/3A/10P) all with 10-plus points. Already, 17 Tigers have scored a point, just one short of the 18 players who scored a point in all of last season.
Fillier Climbs the Charts: Sarah Fillier, has played in all but two games this season, missing the Mercyhurst series to play with Team Canada for a pair of Rivalry Series games, has the rest of this season to further cement her place in the Princeton record books. Her 161 career points are sixth, and a stand-alone fourth-place position is 16 points away. With 39 points, she'd become the fourth player in program history with 200 career points, and Katherine Issel '95 holds the record at 218. Fillier's 70 career goals are 13th, and with 26 more goals, she'd become Princeton's highest-scoring player of this century, surpassing former teammate Maggie Connors '23 (78), Gretchen Anderson '04 (87) and Bullock (95). Kelly O'Dell '84 holds the record at 121 and is one of three players in program history to score 100 goals. Fillier's 91 assists are fourth all-time, and stand-alone second place is six assists away. With nine more assists, Fillier would join record holder Issel (121) as the only players in program history with 100 career assists.
The Staff: Head coach Cara Morey is back for her seventh overall year and sixth competitive season (2020-21 lost to the pandemic) leading the program. Her 95 career wins are second-most in program history to predecessor Jeff Kampersal '92 (327). With five more wins, Morey would become the second Princeton women's hockey coach and sixth hockey coach between the men's and women's programs to reach 100 wins. The four men's coaches who have reached 100 are Richard Vaughan (158 from 1935-59), Jim Higgins (130 from 1977-91), Don Cahoon (122 from 1991-2000), and Guy Gadowsky (105 from 2004-11). Along with Dan Gould, who returns and coaches the goaltenders, Morey has two new assistant coaches in Jamie Lundmark, who played professionally from 2001-18 including parts of six seasons in the NHL with the Rangers, Coyotes, Flames, Kings and Maple Leafs, and Melissa Samoskevich, who stands among the highest-scoring players in Quinnipiac history after graduating in 2019.
Series History: Princeton leads the all-time series with RPI 20-9-5 overall and 10-6-2 in Princeton. The Tigers have won the last six over the Engineers, and last three at home, since RPI's last win, in Feb. 2019 in Princeton. Against Union, Princeton leads the all-time series 35-2-1 overall and 18-0 at home. Last season, Union broke a 14-game Tiger win streak in the series with a 4-1 win in Schenectady. Princeton then won the rematch last February in Baker, where Princeton has won all 18 meetings since the first game in Baker between the teams in 2005.
On RPI: The Engineers broke a six-game skid with a 6-1 win over Assumption last Saturday, but RPI will still enter this weekend looking to break a six-game ECAC Hockey skid since a win over Harvard on Oct. 21.Ellie Kaiser and Nyah Philip co-lead 17 goal scorers with six goals apiece, and Kaiser (14), Marah Wagner (13) and Philip (10) have double-figure points for RPI. Amanda Rampado has played most of the minutes in goal this season, holding a 2.31 GAA.
On Union: Union has a new nickname this season, having changed it in August to the Garnet Chargers. The team heads into Friday's game at Quinnipiac looking to snap a six-game skid and a seven-game winless run since an Oct. 20 win at Harvard. Riley Walsh and Maddie Leaney co-lead the team with seven goals apiece while Emily King has a team-high nine assists and Walsh (seven assists) has a team-high 14 points. Sophie Matsoukas, whose 56 saves to beat Princeton last season remained the junior's career high entering this weekend, has played better than three quarters of the minutes in goal on the season, holding a 3.28 GAA.
Stat Rankings: Princeton stands third in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (.573), and the Tigers' next-best ranking is 12th, in power-play goals with 10. Individual top-25 rankings include Sarah Fillier's 10th-best 0.78 goals per game, Fillier's and Issy Wunder's 13th-best three power-play goals, Uma Corniea's 15th-best two shutouts, Corniea's 22nd-best .922 save percentage, Wunder's 22nd-best .75 assists per game, Corniea's 23rd-best .500 goalie winning percentage, and Corniea's 24th-best 2.179 GAA.
Last weekend's big win: Princeton's win over then-No. 6-ranked Cornell was the 16th win over a top-10 team under Cara Morey, who is in her sixth competitive season as the team's head coach. It was Princeton's third top-six win of calendar year 2023, as the Tigers beat No. 4 Quinnipiac on Jan. 23 at Baker Rink and No. 3 Colgate to open the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals on Feb. 24 in Hamilton.
