RILED UP: Princeton University women’s hockey player Riley Sorokan controls the puck in a game earlier this season. Last weekend, freshman forward Sorokan had an assist in a 6-1 loss to No. 12 Cornell on Friday night and then scored a third period goal to force overtime a day later against Colgate in a game the No. 8 Tigers ended up losing 3-2. Princeton, now 17-6 overall and 12-4 ECAC Hockey, play at St. Lawrence on January 30 and at No. 11 Clarkson on January 31. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Coming into last weekend, the Princeton University women’s hockey team was flying high.
The Tigers were riding a program-record 13-game winning streak as they jumped into first place in the ECAC Hockey standings and had risen to No. 7 in the USCHO.com national poll, their highest ranking since the end of the 2019-20 season.
Hosting No. 12 Cornell on Friday, Princeton was on its heels in the first period but did escape the frame locked in a scoreless tie.
“We knew that we were going to have to weather the storm a little bit, they just lost 5-1 to Penn State,” said Princeton head coach Courtney Kessel. “We haven’t played a team with this pace in a long time, so we had to adjust to the speed. We got through the first period 0-0.”
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the second period on a goal by Issy Wunder, but the Big Red responded by reeling off three unanswered goals in a span of 5:19 to seize momentum.
“They scored right after the four-on-four and then they had nice play off the face-off that put them up 3-1,” said Kessel. “I felt like it sucked the energy out of us.”
At the second intermission, Kessel challenged her players.
“I asked them, ‘How are we going to respond?’” said Kessel. “We haven’t been in this situation in a long time where we had to come back in a game since December 6 or something. It is like, ‘How are we going to respond as a team?’”
While Princeton pressed forward in the early stages of the third period, the Big Red pulled away to a 6-1 win.
“I did think that we came out with some firepower in the third and then we had a penalty, and they scored on a power play,” said Kessel. “It was hard with so many penalties. We deserved to lose; we didn’t play well.”
While Kessel was disappointed by the performance by the Tigers against Cornell, she saw the end of streak as a way to refocus her players.
“I think this loss is good, I would rather have it now than in five weeks,” said Kessel. “We will take it, and we will be better tomorrow. Every game you are heading into, everybody is talking about the streak, so I am glad it is over. You can’t win every game. They were better than us. We lost and let’s swallow it, pick our head up and let’s go play Colgate tomorrow. Hats off to them for winning 13 games in a row, that is hard to do.”
Facing Colgate Saturday afternoon, Princeton fought hard. After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the Tigers got third period goals from Mackenzie Alexander and Riley Sorokan to force overtime but ended up losing 3-2.
With Princeton playing at St. Lawrence on January 30 and at No. 11 Clarkson on January 31, the Tigers will be looking to get back on the winning track as they head up to northern New York.
“When you are in first place, everyone is coming for you,” said Kessel, whose team is now ranked No. 8 nationally and in second place in the ECACH standings behind No. 5 Quinnipiac. “It is easy to climb the ladder but to be at the top and stay at the top is hard.”