November 11, 2015

Bouncing Back From Disappointing Loss to Cornell, PU Women’s Hockey Tops Colgate, Improves to 5-1

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SEEING IT THROUGH: Princeton University women’s hockey player Kelsey Koelzer controls the puck in a game last season. This past Saturday, junior defenseman Koelzer chipped in a goal to help Princeton edge Colgate 3-2. The Tigers, now 5-1 overall and 3-1 ECAC Hockey, have a two-game set with Quinnipiac this weekend, playing at the Bobcats on November 13 and then hosting a rematch at Baker Rink on November 14. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Playing in its first home weekend of the season, the Princeton University women’s hockey team got out of the gate with a bang.

Hosting Cornell last Friday evening, Princeton jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by sophomore forward Kiersten Falck.

Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal liked what he saw in the first period as his team looked to win its fifth straight game of the season.

“We started off pretty strong,” said Kampersal. “I thought in the first period we controlled 18 minutes of it. We were all over them. It would have been nice to get out of there up more than one.”

After getting outshot 14-4 in the second period but preserving its 1-0 lead, the Tigers had the better of the play in the third and were clinging to the lead heading into the waning moments of the contest. But the Big Red came alive with two goals in the last 1:16 of regulation to stun the Tigers and pull out a 2-1 win.

“In the third period, we had control, we were playing well, and I didn’t want a power play towards the end there,” said Kampersal. “We relax on the power play, we don’t play relentlessly and they stole a game from us. We played poorly that last minute. You have to play 60 minutes. You have to be more relentless than the other team and you don’t give away games. We just gave it away.”

Kampersal thought that Falck and senior forward Cristin Shanahan, in particular, did give the Tigers a good effort in defeat.

“Falck is a really good player, she needs to shoot the puck more,” said Kampersal.

“That was good, maybe that will entice her to shoot it more and get that goal in. I thought Shanny did a great job. She is hustling all over the place; she always brings a heart and soul effort. She is a good penalty killer.”

A day later, Princeton showed heart as it ended the weekend on a high note, topping Colgate 3-2 as freshman forward Karlie Lund scored two goals and junior defenseman Kelsey Koelzer added another to help the Tigers improve to 5-1 overall and 3-1 ECAC Hockey.

Kampersal had the sense that his players would come through against Colgate.

“We’ll see what team we have, we will see if they bounce back,” said Kampersal, whose team has a two-game set this weekend with Quinnipiac, playing at the Bobcats on November 13 and then hosting a rematch at Baker Rink on November 14.

“I think we have got a pretty good group; we just need to polish up a few areas.”