Team Notes: Princeton Opens Campaign
PRINCETON - The Princeton women's hockey team will see its first competitive action of the 2010-11 season this weekend when it hosts McGill on Friday night and a round-robin scrimmage on Saturday with Yale and Brown.
Princeton finished the 2009-10 season with a record of 13-14-4 overall and 11-7-4 in the ECAC. The Tigers finished fifth in the final league standings and played in the ECAC quarterfinals at Harvard, a series the Tigers dropped in two games. Princeton enters the new season returning 15 players and has its sights set on a top four league finish and home ice in the opening round of the playoffs, a feat Princeton has accomplished in three of the last four years.
Captains Laura Martindale and Paula Romanchuk will lead Princeton. Martindale is one of three seniors on the roster along with Sasha Sherry and Caroline Park, while Romanchuk is Princeton's leading returning forward scorer. In total Princeton has five returning players that have averaged double-figures in points for their careers, led by Romanchuk's 22 point per season average. The others are Danielle DiCesare(20), Sherry (18), Heather Landry (17) and Julie Johnson (12). Princeton's leading career goal scorers are Romanchuk, DiCesare and Landry, who have all lit the lamp 18 times in their careers.
The Tigers were picked to finish sixth in the ECAC Preseason Coaches Poll. National runner-up Cornell was the top team in the poll, with Clarkson, Harvard, Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence completing the top five.
While most NCAA Division I teams have a few games under their belts already, the Tigers had their first official practice last Friday and will see their first opponents this weekend. On Friday night, the Tigers host McGill University at 7 p.m., in the first meeting between the schools since the 2002-03 season.
On Saturday, Princeton will host an annual scrimmage with Yale and Brown at Hobey Baker Rink. The day begins at 12 noon with Princeton hosting Yale, followed by Yale facing Brown, and concluding with Brown against Princeton. Each game consists of two periods.
