GETTING IT DONE: Princeton University women’s hockey player Jaimie McDonell goes after the puck in action last season. Junior forward McDonell has contributed five points on one goal and four assists this season to help Princeton get off to a promising start this season. Last Saturday, McDonell contributed two assists as the Tigers beat Colgate 4-2 to improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 ECAC Hockey. Princeton hosts a two-game set against Rochester Institute of Technology (5-3-2 overall) this weekend with games slated for November 7 and 8. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Unsettled by some travel issues, the Princeton University women’s hockey team lost its way early in its season opener at Penn State on October 26.

The Tigers surrendered two first period goals on the way to a 2-1 defeat. “We didn’t start sharp and we paid for it,” said Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal, noting that the team had problems finding accommodations due to a scarcity of hotel rooms in the area resulting from Penn State’s home football game against Ohio State that weekend. “They play a disciplined system and caught us in traps and neutralized our speed.”

The Tigers got up to speed from there, outplaying Penn State in the latter stages of the opener and then posting a 4-1 win over the Nittany Lions in the final game of the two-game set. “I thought we played well the next five periods,” said Kampersal. “We played really well on Monday and possessed the puck.”

Last weekend, the Tigers played really well, opening up its ECAC Hockey campaign by beating Cornell 5-4 on Friday and then topping Colgate 4-2 the next day.

“We were going into Cornell where we finished the ECAC season last year,” said Kampersal, who got goals from Fiona McKenna, Molly Contini, Audrey Potts, Kiersten Falck, and Ali Pankowski in the win over the Big Red.

“We got out to a good start. We had three really good minutes in the second period. They play aggressively and we took advantage of some 2-on-1 situations.”

In the victory over Colgate, the Tigers exorcised some demons. “We were 1-4-1 at Colgate our last six years, it is a place where we haven’t played well in a while and we made that point to the girls,” said Kampersal, who got two goals from Molly Contini in the triumph with Cristin Shanahan and Kelsey Koelzer adding one apiece and Jaimie McDonell picking up two assists. “We won the opening face-off and got the puck deep and I knew it was going to be a good first period. We kept playing well.”

The pair of Contini and McDonell have been triggering the Princeton offense in the early going.

“Contini had a wraparound and finished on an entry play we have been working on,” said Kampersal, reflecting on the sophomore’s tallies against Colgate.

“She almost had a third one; she has a knack for finishing the puck. Molly is picking up where she left off freshman year. Jaimie has been our best overall player, she sets the tone.”

On defense, sophomore defenseman Koelzer and junior goalie Kimberly Newell have been leading the way.

“Kelsey has been great in the back, she should be under consideration for ECACH Player of the Week,” asserted Kampersal of Koelzer, who leads Princeton in scoring with seven points on a goal and six assists.

“Kimberly had different forwards thrown at her last weekend and was up to the task. She was smothering things down low and played big.”

Kampersal is hoping his team keeps playing well as it hosts the Rochester Institute of Technology (5-3-2 overall) this weekend with games slated for November 7 and 8.

“RIT plays quick and aggressive,” said Kampersal. “We are in that mode after playing Cornell and Colgate. We have that pace going.”