Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Mercyhurst
Weekend Pair With Mercyhurst Ahead at Baker for No. 14 Princeton
November 07, 2023 | Women's Ice Hockey
vs. Mercyhurst, Friday, 3 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Program | Fan Information
vs. Mercyhurst, Saturday, 1 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Program | Fan Information
In the Rankings: Princeton is No. 14 in both the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live polls this week. ECAC Hockey was again well represented in both polls, with Colgate (3/3), Clarkson (5/5), St. Lawrence (6/6), Cornell (7/8), Quinnipiac (9/9), Yale (11/11) and Princeton (14/14) giving the league nearly half the teams in the polls.Â
O Canada: Sarah Fillier, an Olympic gold medalist and a three-time IIHF World Championship medalist, is competing with Canada this weekend against Team USA in a pair of Rivalry Series games. The second of those is set for Saturday in Los Angeles.
Team Effort: Princeton has seen nine players score goals over the first four weekends with Sarah Fillier in a familiar spot atop the stats list at a team-best five goals and eight points. Already, 15 Tigers have scored a point, just three short of the 18 players who scored a point in all of last season.Â
Fillier Climbs the Charts: Sarah Fillier has one more season to further cement her place in the Princeton record books. Her 159 career points stand tied with former teammate Carly Bullock '20 for sixth, and a stand-alone fourth-place position is 18 points away. With 41 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 68 career goals are 15th, and with 28 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 92 career wins are second-most in program history to predecessor Jeff Kampersal '92 (327). With eight 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.Â
Series History: Princeton leads the all-time series with Mercyhurst 13-8-1 overall, and the teams are tied 5-5 in Baker Rink. Princeton swept last season's two-game series in Erie and has won six straight against the Lakers, including a sweep of Mercyhurst's last visit to Baker in 2016. Mercyhurst's last win over Princeton was in 2007. Princeton and Mercyhurst played for the first time in December 2000 in the Lakers' second season as a program. Â
On Mercyhurst: The Lakers split each of their first two weekends of CHA conference play, including a split with a Robert Morris team that Princeton swept to open its season. Princeton will be the fourth ECAC Hockey team that Mercyhurst has played this season, with St. Lawrence and Colgate each taking two from Mercyhurst and Cornell taking one and tying the other game. A visit from Yale is ahead on the first weekend of 2024. Eleven players have split the team's 36 goals with Sara Boucher leading the team with seven goals and Sydney Pedersen's 12 assists leading the 19 players who have notched an assist this season. Ena Nystrøm has played most of the minutes in goal, accruing a 2.64 GAA.
Stat Rankings: Princeton leads the nation in faceoff winning percentage, taking 64.2 percent of draws. The team's next-highest ranking is 10th in shutouts, with two, with a 13th-best 1.979 GAA, 13th-best 2.00 goals-per-game allowed, and the 14th-best +0.62 scoring margin. Uma Corniea's two shutouts are eighth-best, her 1.319 GAA is 10th-best, her .943 save percentage is 12th-best, and Sarah Fillier's 0.71 goals-per-game are 15th-best. Mercyhurst's top-10 rankings include a second-best 420 saves, seventh-best 62 total assists, seventh-best three shutouts, seventh-highest 9.57 penalty minutes per game, ninth-best 98 team points, and 10th-best 36 goals.Â
