This weekend, the women’s ice hockey team will travel to northern New York to take on two ECAC foes. The Tigers will face off against the St. Lawrence Saints on Friday evening, followed by a visit to Clarkson on Saturday.
The Tigers (4-1-1 overall, 3-0-1 ECAC) enter this week’s games with momentum after a successful homestand that included a 1-0 victory over Brown and a 7-1 rout of Yale.
“We are pretty satisfied with our start, but it’s a long season, so we need to stay focused and keep the intensity high throughout,” senior forward Paula Romanchuk said. “Winning always brings some confidence and momentum, which we will use to keep us going this weekend when we travel up to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.”
Thus far in the season, Princeton has been blessed with excellent play from its underclassmen, which always yields high hopes for a team. The sophomore class in particular has started the season with some strong performances, as forwards Denna Laing, Olivia Mucha and Sally Butler are the team’s top three in points and goals. Laing was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week after scoring two goals and assisting three others last weekend.
Prompted to identify the source of underclassmen achievement, Mucha said, “I would credit our and the team’s success to the energy of the whole team and determination to consistently be one of the top teams this year. Our sophomore line is just like any other line; each line and each position has contributed to our success.”
Princeton’s first matchup of the weekend, against St. Lawrence (4-3-3, 1-2-1), will be a test for the Tigers’ defense as it looks to halt the Saints’ offense, which has scored almost three goals per game. Head coach Jeff Kampersal ’92 stated that the team’s preparation this week in practice would include a “focus on our D-zone, making sure we know our backchecking assignments” and that the team also made an effort “to learn to stay aggressive without taking penalties.”
In the second game of the road trip, the offense of the Golden Knights (5-3-4, 1-2-1) will also pose a challenge to Princeton. Clarkson comes into this weekend outshooting its opponents 31-24 and outscoring them by a quarter of a goal per game. However, the full week of preparation will probably come in handy for the Tigers’ offense as well, as they have time to refine some of the skills that contributed to their success at home last week.
“We wanted to make sure our shots were quality ones and not right into the goalies’ stomachs,” Romanchuk said.
The team said that it will not be intimidated by the long trip north. “We are looking forward to the challenge of playing St. Lawrence and Clarkson — two great programs and two really neat rinks to play in,” Kampersal said. “It is always tough playing on the road, but, if we keep our identity, we don’t care where we play. We know we will show up to battle as will St. Lawrence and Clarkson.”
The Tigers hope to carry some of their current momentum through the next two games and all the way back home for next weekend’s contest against Cornell, which currently sits atop the ECAC.
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