Tenacious D: Princeton 3, Harvard 0

Heather Landry

Since last I posted about the Princeton Women's Ice Hockey team, they played two games on the road, both at Ohio State, and both ending in ties. They were out shot by the Buckeyes almost 2-to-1, but due to Rachel Weber's goaltending and some lucky breaks, they came out with two points.

Last year at this time, the Tigers were 3-10 and then went on a magic streak, buoyed by Weber's standing on her head in goal. Could it happen against this year? After last night's 3-0 win over Harvard, it just might be. The Tigers played their best game of the season, firing on all cylinders, shutting down the top-ten ranked Crimson.

It didn't start well. Less than one minute into the game the puck snuck past Weber, and it appeared that the Tiger faithful would be in for a long night. But the refs reviewed the video and waved it off, determining that it was kicked in. Given new life, Princeton pounced, attacking the puck and dominating play. Of course, dominating play and scoring are two different things for the Tigers, but near the end of the period Sally Butler, the Tigers most prolific scorer this season, tallied a goal to give Princeton the lead.

The second period was scoreless, but Princeton still wasn't checking the standings to see that Harvard had a better record. In the third, Butler scored again, and further insurance came on a power play by Danielle DiCesare.

The Tigers defense, a young squad after losing two to graduation last year, are showing their stripes. Gabie Figueroa, Rose Alleva and froshes Ali Pankowski and Brianne Mahoney were exemplary in keeping the puck out of their own end, while Paula Romanchuk, once a scoring force for the Tigers, has settled into a role as their best defensive forward. She won 13 of 16 faceoffs.

For this article I want to give special props to Heather Landry, a senior wing. She has always been a battler, but never a flashy scorer. With Olivia Mucha out for the season (the charm of boutique college sports is that you can find out the health of a player by asking them--Miss Mucha sat two rows in front of me, sporting a cast and sling on her busted wing) Landry has taken her spot on the first line with Butler and Denna Laing. She was all over the place last night, constantly in the mix, and contributed assists on both of Butler's goals.

With the Crimson defeated, the big test will be the Dartmouth Big Green today, because often the Tigers leave everything on the ice and have a let-down in the second game of the typical two-game home stand.