LOCKED IN: Princeton University women’s hockey player Carly Bullock, right, battles for the puck in recent action. Last Friday, freshman forward Bullock scored the first goal as Princeton rolled to a 7-2 win over No. 5 and previously undefeated Colgate. A day later, she tallied a goal in a losing cause as the Tigers fell 2-1 to Cornell. Princeton, now 5-4-1 overall and 3-4-1 ECAC Hockey, plays a two-game set at Boston University on November 25 and 26. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Carly Bullock established herself as a prolific scorer in the highly competitive world of Minnesota high school girls’ hockey, tallying 278 points on 186 goals and 92 assists in her career for the Blake School in Minneapolis.

Bringing her skills to the Princeton University women’s hockey team this year, Bullock drew on that background last Friday, scoring a goal five minutes into a clash with 5th-ranked and undefeated Colgate.

“I have always been told to pressure the defense hard and when they coughed it up, I just took off fast,” said Bullock. “I knew I had pressure behind so I just tried to cut back and put it over the pad and below the blocker.”

Bullock’s goal set the tone in the contest as Princeton exploded for a 7-2 win over the previously undefeated Raiders.

“I think getting the first goal is a big thing in any game,” said Bullock, who ended up with one goal and two assists in the victory. “Then to keep going and not let them come back definitely helped.”

Forming a line with senior Molly Contini and sophomore Karlie Lund, a former Blake School teammate, helped Bullock thrive against Colgate.

“We had made changes after last weekend and this was our first game together,” said Bullock, reflecting on her performance that saw Lund score three goals and Contini chip in one goal and two assists.

“I would say right away we clicked, we had been working well in practice. That was a huge part of how well we were working together.”

Bullock has a deep connection with Lund on the ice. “I played with Karlie in high school, it is amazing to play with her here,” said Bullock,” noting that a third Blake alumna, freshman defenseman Sylvie Wallin, also plays for the Tigers.

“We already know where each other are; we can figure out what we are doing. It is definitely helpful to have someone familiar out here. Molly is a great player; it is nice to have senior leadership on that line.”

Bullock is hoping that the win over Colgate will help get the Tigers rolling.

“It was great to beat this team with this good of a score, that is a big confidence win for us,” said Bullock, who scored another goal a day later in a 2-1 loss to Cornell as the Tigers moved to 5-4-1 overall and 3-4-1 ECAC Hockey.

Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal liked the way his players got off to a good start against Colgate.

“We had an awesome win at Harvard last week and then had a big letdown against Dartmouth,” said Kampersal, whose team beat the Crimson 2-1 in overtime on November 11 before falling 3-2 to the Big Green in overtime a day later.

“Our kids were ready to play. Last weekend we must have had 90 shots on goal so we were all over it but we weren’t executing. We focused on that a lot this week with a lot of skill work and finishing around the net.”

After jumping off to a 2-0 lead in the first period, Princeton outscored the Raiders 3-1 in the second and 2-1 in the third to finish them off.

“Colgate hadn’t lost yet, they were one of only two undefeated teams … and they were first in our league and ranked fifth overall,” said Kampersal

“We wanted to come out strong from last week. We don’t think of 3 of 4, we think of the last one. We are trying to play really good hockey.”

Kampersal credited sophomore star Lund with playing some very good hockey.

“Lund is just an absolute pro; when you look at her, she looks like a pro hockey player,” asserted Kampersal.

“When Jeff Halpern (longtime NHL player) was here, he had the same sort of cadence in the way that he held himself. Lund is the same way. She is good in the face-off circle, she is better defensively than most people think. She hit two posts in addition to three goals tonight. She has an idea of what she is doing all of the time. She makes the players she is playing with better.”

As the season goes on, Kampersal expects Bullock to get better and better.

“Carly works hard, she is a really good kid, she is coachable,” said Kampersal, whose team plays a two-game set at Boston University on November 25 and 26.

“She has had a lot of tough luck; she has a lot of shots and her shooting percentage hasn’t been great, considering that she is a Minnesota high school sniper. She is figuring out that she has less time to operate. She works her butt off, goals will come for her because she is a goal scorer.”

Bullock, for her part, is quickly developing a comfort level with the Tigers.

“It is just finding my role on the team and getting in the swing of things a lot faster,” said Bullock, who now has three goals and three assists in 10 games this season.

“Everyone is so much better and bigger. It has definitely been a change but everyone is really supportive and we have great leadership and a lot of seniors.”