No Offense Intended: St. Lawrence 1, Princeton 0

Gabie Figueroa

This is a broken record, one that's been spinning a long time, making the tone-arm bounce for a decade. The Princeton Tigers, being coached by Jeff Kampersal, struggle to score. Through dozens of players, and now a new pair of assistant coaches, the team has always been one that has good goaltending and defense, but to whom goals are like Bigfoot sightings--few and far between.

The latest travesty was against St. Lawrence yesterday. Princeton can get shutout in a variety of ways--this time they almost doubled the Saints shot total, 31-17, yet still lost 1-0. There were several tantalizing moments--Denna Laing missed an open net in the first period, while Corey Stearns and Sally Butler seemed to say, "The hell with this, I'm gonna score come hell or high water," but just couldn't get the puck in the net. There was even a goal waved off, but for unknown reasons. When that happened I turned to my friend and said, "Don't the refs realize we don't get many of these?"

I've never played the game, so I have no real understanding of what this team's problems are. Maybe it's the players--Gretchen Anderson was the last consistent scorer the Tigers had, and she graduated in 2004. But I look at the stats for D-I and see plenty of players with high scoring totals. The Tigers do not have anyone in the top 50 in scoring, a certainty given they now average only 1.96 goals a game. Princeton does not offer scholarships, and they're not a legendary hockey program, so they won't get the best players, but come on!

It's therefore easy to blame the coach, as the story has been the same for several years now. When St. Lawrence scored early in the game--Jessica Hon grabbed her own rebound and lit the lamp--I had a sinking feeling the Tigers would not score. It's not fair to Rachel Weber--by far the Tigers MVP--that she has to pitch a shutout in order to have a chance to win. She would have a spectacular win-loss record on another team, one that can score.

I grew frustrated watching the Tigers' offensive scheme, what there was of it. At some moments, the passing was crisp and effective, but at other times there seemed to be no discipline--players just dumped and chased, seeming to make things up on the fly. At one point four of the five skaters were gathered around a puck frozen against the boards--if it came free, who was the player going to pass to? Kampersal has never believed in one man, one puck--it's like a free-for-all.

At least the defense played well in this game, limiting St. Lawrence to just those 17 shots. I thought Gabie Figueroa had a great game, patrolling the blue line. She seems to have great vision on the ice, and though occasionally a puck will sneak past her out of the zone, she does a nice job. I also admire Ali Pankowski, who has the heaviest shot on the team. In this game, Kampersal employed a different set up on the power play. Instead of two players on the point, he had a sort of "triangle and two," with one player on the point, two at the face-off circles, and two in the slot. Unfortunately, he had Pankowski in close. She should be back on the point, as her shot is the best chance to making it through the crowd. Instead, Kampersal had Charissa Stadnyk back, and her shot isn't blistering enough to make it through.

The regular season winds up next week with two home games. I hope to celebrate a few goals.