FALCK LAND: Princeton University women’s hockey player Kiersten Falck skates hard in a game last winter. This past Saturday, junior forward Falck tallied two goals and an assist to help Princeton defeat Mercyhurst 4-2 in the opener of a two-game set between the teams. A day later, the Tigers posted a second straight win over the Lakers, prevailing 5-2. The victory gave Princeton its fourth straight win and improved it to 9-6-1 overall heading into the holiday break. The Tigers are next in action when they host Penn State on December 31 and Quinnipiac on January 1. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Kiersten Falck took on a grinder role for the Princeton University women’s hockey team last season.

“Usually I am like a playmaker type of player,” said Falck, who had three goals and six assists in 33 games in the 2015-16 campaign.

“Last year I was with other type of players where my role on the line was to hem the other team’s first line in and get them generally deep and push them and stop them from scoring.”

This winter, junior forward Falck is emerging as a scoring threat for the Tigers.

“This year I have been put with a few people who are really good at passing like Molly Contini and Cassidy Tucker,” said Falck.

“Those two people are really great at winning the puck and getting it to me and we are putting some pucks away. We are moving pucks around better and we are all connecting, which is awesome.”

Last Saturday against visiting Mercyhurst in the opener of a two-game set, Falck was connecting, tallying two goals and an assist to help Princeton prevail 4-2.

“Our first couple of periods today weren’t awesome, luckily we were able to poke a couple in,” said the 5’5 Falck, a native of Ham Lake, Minn. who now has four goals and seven assists this season.

“Honestly it was just a matter of who is going to win the 50/50s and who is going to get to the pucks first. I think we started doing that at the end which is good.”

Falck poked in the first goal of the contest to give Princeton a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

“On the first one I got the puck from Emily Achterkirch and I immediately tried to dish it to Tucker on the left,” recalled Falck.

“For some reason no one was on me when I entered the zone and Tucker saw that and she just sifted it right through to me. I was going to make a move on the goalie but I decided to sift it through under her arm.”

With 6:22 left in the second period, Falck buried a sweet feed from Contini to put Princeton ahead 3-2.

“The second goal was funny because I always yell ‘shoot, shoot Tini’ on two-on-ones so I yelled it,” said a smiling Falck.

“She is so good with her hands so she immediately was able to pull both the goalie and the girl over and threw it right to me in a perfect spot and I had to put it away.”

While Princeton didn’t produce a perfect effort in the win on Saturday, Falck was happy with how the Tigers put the game away in the third period as Karlie Lund added an empty-netter to make it a 4-2 final.

“I think everyone started pulling together, which was really good,” said Falck, who helped the Tigers put together a good effort a day later as they topped Mercyhurst 5-2 to post their fourth straight win and take a 9-6-1 overall record into the holiday break.

“In the beginning we were having trouble getting the puck out and connecting passes and I think that started coming together there at the end.”

Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal was pleased to see his team come alive in the third period Saturday after a lackluster start to the game.

“The first two periods were ugly and sloppy,” lamented Kampersal. “We were conveniently second to the puck, not winning battles and just an easy team to play against. We played a lot better in the third, we had blocked shots and kids were hungry, willful, and prideful.”

Kampersal credited Falck with battling hard all season. “Falck has been playing well, she skates like the wind,” said Kampersal.

“She has been one of the more consistent players all year. She has done a good job on face-offs, penalty killing, just being a good solid two-way player.

The Tigers got a solid effort from senior forward Tucker this weekend as she had two assists in the win on Saturday and then tallied two goals and an assist a day later.

“Tucker had nice plays, nice looks with good penalty killing, and good hustle to draw penalties,” said Kampersal.

Kampersal was looking for the Tigers to hustle to a win on Sunday in their last action before the holiday break.

“It felt like we were on Christmas break already today so we need to be focused and play one more game and be good,” said Kampersal, whose team is next in action when it hosts Penn State on December 31 and Quinnipiac on January 1

“Last weekend was better; the two wins (4-0 at Rensselaer on December 2 and 7-0 at Union on December 3) felt better. The win today felt like a relief.”

Falck, for her part, is relieved to see Princeton picking things up on the offensive end as it has averaged five goals a contest in its four-game winning streak.

“I think things are going in the right direction, at the beginning of the year, we had trouble scoring,” said Falck.

“We would have 45 shots a game and we would put one away, and it is really hard losing those types of games. So now putting some pucks away, we can start working on playing our game instead of worrying about scoring.”