Team Notes: Princeton Closes First Half Against Syracuse
PRINCETON - The Princeton women's hockey team closes out the first half of its schedule with a non-conference series against Syracuse this weekend at Hobey Baker Rink. Princeton blanked Brown last Saturday to snap a seven-game winless streak.
It will be a busy weekend of hockey at Baker Rink as both women's games will be the front end of doubleheaders with the men's team. On both days, the Princeton women host Syracuse at 4 p.m., followed by the men's team facing UMass Lowell at 7 p.m.
The Tigers split their league games last weekend, falling to Yale 2-1 and shutting out Brown 4-0. In the Yale loss, the Bulldogs scored two power-play goals in the first period and then withstood the Tigers over the remaining 50 minutes of action. Princeton outshot Yale 27-8 but could only get one of the goals back when Oliva Mucha scored early in the second period.
Shots were lopsided again in Princeton's favor on Saturday against Brown, but Princeton took advantage of its chances in building a lead and getting the win. Danielle DiCesare opened the scoring on a deflection in the first period and Paula Romanchuk scored from the slot on the power play in the second period. Mucha then added Princeton's third and fourth goals in the final period, the second coming shorthanded.
Mucha's three-goal weekend vaulted her to the top of the team in scoring with four goals and five assists for nine points.Sally Butler, who had two assists over the weekend, ranks second with three goals and four assists for seven points, tied with Sasha Sherry's goal and team-leading six assists.
Princeton currently is 4-6-1 in league play with nine points in 11 games. The Tigers sit tied for fifth with Rensselaer in the standings, a point behind a third-place tie between Dartmouth and Harvard. Five league teams are in action this weekend in non-league games. There is not another league game until January 3 when the Tigers host Quinnipiac at Baker Rink. The rest of the ECAC teams return to league play the following weekend with a full slate of 12 games scheduled.
Princeton hosts Syracuse this weekend in the backend of a home-and-home series. The Tigers visited the Orange last season for two games and dropped a pair of one-goal decisions. In the opening game, Princeton took a 3-1 lead on goals from Julie Flynn, Heather Landry and Kelly Cooke, but Syracuse rallied to earn the win in the third. The following day the teams were even through regulation before Syracuse scored the game winner in overtime.
Syracuse, in its third year fielding a varsity team, is currently 8-7-2 overall and 2-0-0 in College Hockey America. The Orange is 4-2-1 in its last seven and swept two games from Wayne State last weekend. Syracuse has played several ECAC teams thus far, sweeping two games from Union, splitting a set with Clarkson, winning at Colgate, tying and losing to Rensselaer, and falling to Cornell.
Following the weekend, the Tigers will break for the holidays. Princeton returns to action on Dec. 31 against Boston College at Baker Rink.
