Women's Hockey: Tigers hit the ice twice against Syracuse

With regained confidence, the women’s hockey team (4-10-1 overall, 4-6-1 ECAC Hockey) is looking forward to hosting a two-game series against Syracuse (8-7-2) today and Saturday. Last weekend, the Tigers fell to Yale 2-1 but came back the next day to beat Brown with a decisive 4-0 victory. Defeating Brown ended a four-week stretch without a win for the Tigers. In the Brown game, the Tigers were finally able to convert for a goal on their power play, something they have been struggling with all season. The team was also pleased that it was able to capitalize on its five-on-five opportunities. Princeton is currently in sixth place in the ECAC Hockey.

“Our team remains confident,” head coach Jeff Kampersal ’92 said. “We threw all we had against Yale and came up short on Friday. We did the same against Brown and some pucks broke through their [defense] and goalie. Our play had some life on Saturday, and hopefully that special team’s play will come together for us.”

Princeton desperately needed a win last weekend to reclaim its confidence. “We've been on somewhat of a losing streak, so it was good to break that,” junior forward and co-captain Paula Romanchuk said. “This weekend, it's important for us to continue to win games and go into the break with a little more confidence than we may have had at the beginning of the year.”

Last season, the Tigers dropped two very close games to Syracuse. In the first game, Princeton was edged by one goal, 4-3, and in the second game, which went into overtime, the Tigers fell 1-0.

“Syracuse is a very good team,” Romanchuk said. “Though they are a rather new program, they have done very well recruiting and have put together a competitive team the past couple of years. Last year we had two tough losses. One of the games we did not play well, and the second game we played well but didn't execute when we needed to and made mistakes that led to Syracuse goals, including one in overtime.”

Kampersal added that the Syracuse coach, Paul Flanagan, has been very successful in creating a solid program. Reflecting on last season's games, Kampersal added: “Last year, we had a bit of a shootout with them in the first game and then a very tight second game.”

To be more successful this year, the Tigers need to focus on staying out of the penalty box because Syracuse took advantage of their power-play opportunities last year. In practice, the team is sticking to its routine: working hard, practicing its skills, and examining some situational play. Kampersal said that his team is looking forward to this weekend’s challenge.

The Syracuse team will arrive Friday coming off two wins over Wayne State University last weekend. The team is led by forward Isabel Menard (11 goals, 16 assists), who was recently named College Hockey America conference player of the month, and forward Julie Rising (8 goals, 13 assists).

“This weekend we look to get off to a good start in both games and to keep our game simple with limited mistakes for the full 60 minutes,” Romanchuk said. “Being that this is our last weekend of games before the break, I expect our team to show up and play the way we can so we can build some momentum for the second half of the year.”

Following this Friday and Saturday afternoons' games at Baker Rink, the Tigers will take three weeks off before hitting the ice again in their next competition on Dec. 31 against Boston College.