ROCK SOLID: Princeton University women’s hockey player Kiersten Falck heads up the ice in a game last winter. This past Saturday, sophomore forward Falck chipped in a goal and an assist as Princeton defeated Rochester Institute of Technology 6-1. The win gave the Tigers a sweep of the two-game set at RIT as they won 4-0 in the opener on Friday. Princeton, now 7-4-1 overall, hosts Harvard on December 4 and Dartmouth on December 5. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Coming off a tough weekend in upstate New York which saw it lose nailbiters at St. Lawrence and Clarkson, the Princeton University women’s hockey team was primed to come out on fire last Friday when it returned to the area to start a two-game set at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead over RIT midway through the first period as freshman star Karlie Lund found the back of the net. Princeton never looked back, pulling away to a 4-0 win with junior Hilary Lloyd, junior Kelsey Koelzer, and junior Morgan Sly adding goals and senior netminder Kimberly Newell making 18 saves in earning the shutout.

A day later, the Tigers utilized that same formula for success, getting first period goals from Kiersten Falck and Molly Contini to jump out to a 2-0 lead on the way to a 6-1 victory. Contini added a second goal with Lloyd, Koelzer, and senior Jaimie McDonell also finding the back of the net.

“We had a good weekend at RIT,” said Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal, whose team improved to 7-4-1 overall with the sweep.

“Our whole year, we have been relentless and we have played hard. It is just a matter of executing at key times. Everything clicked  for us this weekend, which was good.”

Kampersal credited the precocious Lund with triggering things. “Our freshman Karlie Lund is having a great start so far,” said Kampersal of Lund, who leads the team in scoring with 13 points on six goals and seven assists.

“She makes incredible plays, each goal or each assist is a big time play. She scored the first one to get us going on Friday. We scored fairly early and maintained a good level of intensity. In the third, we played well.”

On Saturday, it was veterans Contini, McDonell, and Lloyd who set the tone. “To come back the next day and score in the first minute into the period was really important,” said Kampersal.

“It was great that Molly scored two. Jaimie scored and Hilary scored. We really need those three to get going for us to have some success towards the end of the year.”

Having played nine of its first 12 games on the road, Princeton is going to be home for a while, starting a six-game homestand by hosting No. 7 Harvard on December 4 and Dartmouth on December 5.

“We have traveled so much; I feel like we have been on the road forever,” said Kampersal, whose team is 3-4-1 in ECAC Hockey play.

“That’s the way that the schedule had shook out; it has been a grind. I told them I was proud of them for getting through the grind. Now we don’t travel until January, so we have a chance to hopefully get a little rest and have confidence to play against a really good Harvard (8-2-1 overall, 5-1-1 ECACH) and Dartmouth (4-4-2 overall, 4-1-2 ECACH) teams.”

The Tigers will have to keep grinding in order to overcome the Crimson and Big Green this weekend.

“Harvard has a lot of depth, they still have Michelle Picard on defense and they have a great goaltender (Emerance Maschmeyer),” said Kampersal.

“You really have to match their pace and stay out of the penalty box and then who knows, our goalie is great, their goalie is great so it should be a good game. Dartmouth has a really dynamic first line that can hurt you in a hurry. We have to make sure that we contain them. Their goalie (Robyn Chemago) is playing really well and just in general, they are playing solidly. It is going to be two great games.”

Kampersal is confident that he will get a great effort from his players this weekend and beyond.

“The kids are coachable, they play hard and they play with heart and soul,” said Kampersal. “We just need to continue for 60 minutes and execute better. Our penalty killing is phenomenal and our power play is coming along.”