Women's Hockey: Princeton earns No. 7 tournament seed

Princeton (12-13-4 overall, 10-10-12 ECAC) started off its big weekend by closing out a 2-1 victory over the RPI Engineers (9-21-4, 6-14-2), who had fought back to tie the Tigers in their faceoff earlier in the season. Princeton then went on to post its fourth shutout of the year and its first since a Jan. 6 defeat of Harvard in a dominating 3-0 win over Union (4-26-4, 2-18-2). The two final wins of the season give the Tigers a 7-6-1 record at home.

Rensselaer, which needed a late third-period goal to tie the Tigers in October, got off to a quick start on Friday. The Engineers scored the game’s first goal a mere 23 seconds into the contest. Freshman Taylor Mahoney was able to outrace her defender on a breakaway and fire a shot past senior goaltender Rachel Weber to give RPI an early 1-0 lead.

The Tigers regained control, however, netting an equalizer midway through the first period. Freshman defender Brianne Mahoney attempted a shot off a pass from junior forward Alex Kinney before sophomore forward Denna Laing scooped up the rebound and netted her eighth goal of the year.

The conclusion of the first period saw some excellent defense and goaltending from the Tigers when successive kneeing and checking penalties briefly put Princeton on the wrong end of a five-on-three power play. Princeton went straight to work in the second period, scoring the eventual game-winner six minutes into the frame. Sophomore forward Sally Butler collected her 13th goal of the season on the play, assisted by senior forward Julie Johnson. The Engineers fought back with 12 shot attempts in the final period of play, but Weber and the Princeton defense held on to preserve a 2-1 victory.

After the scrappy win, the Tigers closed out their season with a dominating performance against the Union Dutchwomen. The Princeton defense allowed a measly 15 shots on goal throughout the game, and Weber stopped all of them, ending the regular season of her senior year with a shutout. Princeton posted 31 shots on goal on the night, netting three of them.

Butler opened up the scoring on senior night off a pass from senior forward Heather Landry in the beginning of the second period. The goal was Butler’s 14th and final score of the regular season. She ended the year leading the Tigers with 24 points. Less than 10 minutes later, freshman defender Ali Pankowski scored on the power play. Pankowski was assisted on the goal by Johnson and senior forward Paula Romanchuk, who finished the year with a team-high 12 helpers. Princeton capped off the night’s scoring when Laing capitalized on another power-play opportunity a minute and a half into the final period.

The Tigers’ success this weekend locks them into the seventh seed for the ECAC playoffs. The Tigers finished the season with 22 points, four behind sixth-seeded Quinnipiac. Princeton will face the conference’s second-place team, Harvard, in the first round of tournament. The Crimson, ranked eighth in the nation, will host the Tigers in a best-of-three playoff.

Princeton has already faced Harvard twice this year. The Tigers will certainly be looking to overcome the home-ice advantage that has pervaded their matchups this season. At Baker Rink, Princeton posted an impressive 3-0 shutout over the Crimson, but in Cambridge, Mass., Harvard beat up the Tigers to the tune of a 10-1 victory.