At Bright Hockey Centre on Saturday afternoon, the Harvard Crimson defeated
the Princeton Tigers 7-1.  It was an odd contest.  Princeton came out on the
prowl, but after letting in a few soft goals, they packed it in.  Perhaps
this preview for next weekend's ECAC DI North quarterfinals in New Jersey
wasn't quite ready for the viewing audience?

Fashion alert - full snaps to Princeton for their resplendent new uniforms.
The retro chic look is way cool and the way the Tigers began the match, I
thought we were in for a treat.  They were buzzing.  The Princeton
fore-checking scheme looked particularly sharp.  Regrettably, the Tigers went
off the boil when they started fooling around with a series of tactical
changes.  There was a lot of strategy, but little substance.  At the end of
the first, PU let in an ugly tally off a pileup.

In the middle stretch, Princeton faded even more.  They allowed two more
goals.  One was a long-range shot mishandled by the goalie and the other a
gift from the main zebra, who seemed to kind of like interference.  At 3-0
down, the Tigers pretty much devoured their tails and were ready to warm up
the bus.

In the third, PU would concede another 3 scores, mostly resulting from
players standing around and watching instead of going for it.  Clearly, they
didn't want to give away any trade secrets.  Late in the game, Jessica
Fedderly (Lisa Rasmussen) took a long lead pass on a Tiger power play, broke
past the defense, burst in on net and buried her try.  It was 6-1, but was
this a momentum shift for next weekend?  It would appear not, as Princeton
managed to let in another one in the dying seconds.

Princeton could have done a lot more in this match.  Perhaps saving it all
for the quarterfinals is wise, but I wonder where the confidence factor is
right now?  This Tiger team showed a zippy quality early in the match that
hinted at excellence.  Their patterns were crisp and their passing edgy and
it seemed like some explosive hockey was just about to happen.  The defense
was led by senior Wanda Mason.  She had a nose for trouble and often came up
with a timely solution.  On the attack, fellow senior Melissa Deland had a
solid outing.  Her movement made her fore-checking game look great.  Gretchen
Anderson was the other forward who loved to run and gun.  Her threatening
darts were extremely penetrating.  Overall, the striking uniforms deserved
better!







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    good shooting
    rhun
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Women's College Ice Hockey from rhun:  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cwinters

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