OPENING SALVO: Princeton University women’s hockey player Molly Contini controls the puck along the boards in a game last season. Last weekend, senior forward and assistant captain Contini starred as the seventh-ranked Tigers opened the season by topping Providence College 4-2 and 7-3 in a two-game set. Contini scored two goals in the opener and then added a goal and two assists a day later. Princeton, now 2-0, plays at Brown (2-0) on October 28 and at Yale (2-0) on October 29. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After enduring weeks of grueling preseason training, the Princeton University women’s hockey team was primed for the regular season as it played a two-game set at Providence College to open its 2016-17 campaign.

“They had been practicing for so long and so they were pumped up to play a real game,” said Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal.

“We had a very competitive scrimmage against
Cornell but it is not the same as going through the anthem and the starting lineups and all of that.”

The seventh-ranked Tigers showed their competitive fire, starting slowly but pulling away to 4-2 and 7-3 wins over the Friars.

“This weekend, we really exploded in both third periods,” said Kampersal.

“I do think we are one of the better conditioned teams. We were last year and I am assuming we are this year. We had two good third periods.”

Princeton also showed resilience to go with its production, overcoming early deficits in each win.

“They scored first and we answered and that was important, that actually happened both games,” noted Kampersal.

Contini helps spark the Princeton scoring, tallying two goals in the opener and then adding a goal and two assists a day later.

“Molly is just so clever and so smart, she plays to her strengths,” said Kampersal.

“In the second game she could have had maybe seven assists. She was on, she set up people with scoring chances and I thought their goalie played really well. Molly was just on the puck a lot making good passes; that is what her role is, to create offense and make her teammates better.”

On Sunday, the Tigers exploded for one of the better periods in program history offensively, scoring five goals over the last 20 minutes of the contest as Carly Bullock, Karlie Lund, Morgan Sly, Audrey Potts, and Contini all scored.

“I knew we were getting chances so it was just a matter of time where we were going to get something; we had a couple of posts this weekend and near scoring plays,” said Kampersal, whose team last hit the seven-goal mark in a 7-1 win over Yale on November 5, 2010.

“The fourth goal right after the third goal broke their back a little bit. They were very good games but they were kind of crazy, meaning that we are not necessarily used to all the penalties. We are trying to figure that out. We were playing 5-on-4, 5-on-3, and then 4-on-4 and even though you had a lead it wasn’t necessarily that safe. It was a wild, wild west out there, it was a little chaotic.”

Along with Contini, other veterans who figured prominently over the weekend included junior forward Kiersten Falck (4 assists in the two games), senior defenseman Kelsey Koelzer (1 goal, 1 assist), and sophomore forward Lund (2 goals, 1 assist).

“Falck did a good job, she was really good all around, she is a high energy kid,” said Kampersal.

“She is emotional as well, trying to get the team pumped up, Kelsey is Kelsey, she does a good job. I would say the same about Lund, she is threatening all of the time.”

Freshmen Bullock and Sylvie Wallin made immediate impacts as they each had a goal and an assist in their debut weekend.

“They were teammates at the Blake School as was Karlie Lund,” said Kampersal.

“Carly Bullock is a really good offensive player, she is a good goal scorer and is super competitive. Sylvie is long, she can skate, she is a good defender. She can create offense from the back too. We are going to count on both of those kids.”

All in all, it was a really good start for the Tigers. “The biggest positive was that everybody was contributing,” said Kampersal, noting that the Tigers do need to sharpen up their penalty kill.

“We were getting good goaltending from Sils (junior Alysia DaSilva). Our special teams were better in the
second game. We got a lot of practice time with them in these two games so that was good.”

With Princeton playing at Brown (2-0) on October 28 and at Yale (2-0) on October 29, Kampersal knows that his team has to keep getting better to stay on the winning track.

“Both Brown and Yale will be significant challenges, especially on the road,” said Kampersal.

“I think they have both gotten better through recruiting, they are both well coached so we will have our hands full. We will try to watch them a little bit on film but we will focus on getting ourselves to play better regardless of who we play.”