PRINCETON, N.J. (2/24/07) – Senior Tara French (Truro, N.S.) scored with 2:56 remaining to give the Colgate University women’s hockey team a 3-2 win over Princeton to win the series and advance to the ECACHL tournament semifinals for the first time in program history.

 

French rifled a slap shot from the point that beat Princeton goalie Brittany Parisi to win the game.  Junior Kara Leene (Waterbury, Vt.) battled for the puck along the left corner boards and with the help of freshman Beth Rotenberg (Toronto, Ont.) got French the puck down near the blue line.

 

The Tigers got on the board first but the lead was short lived as the Raiders tied it up just over two minutes later to end the first knotted at one.  The second period was scoreless before the teams traded goals in the third.

 

Princeton won a draw in the left face-off circle and Kim Pearce had a quick shot on net that was stopped by Brook Wheeler (Brussels, Ont.), but she couldn’t cover it before MaryKate Oakley got the net.  Oakley stripped the puck away and tucked it in glove side at 14:23 of the first frame.

 

Freshman Katie Stewart (Exeter, Ont.) evened the game with a 5x3 power-play goal just 14 seconds into the two-man advantage, at 16:35.  Sophomore Sam Hunt (Calgary, Alta.) won a face off down in on the left side and dumped the puck in along the boards.  Colgate gained possession and sent it to the point to French who saw Hunt open on the extended red.  Young went down to the left to try to cover what she suspected was a French slap shot which blocked Hunt from getting her shot past as it deflected off of Young’s pad and popped up in the air right out in front of the net where Stewart had the open look.

 

Wheeler brought her ‘A’ game again tonight, making 14 stops in the first, as the Raiders were out shot 15-9.  She made another 14 saves in the second, as the Tigers had a 14-7 edge in shots.

 

Young was replaced in net by Parisi with 10:31 remaining after a scrum in front of the net that saw a few Colgate chances.

 

Colgate took a 2-1 lead at 9:05 when French connected with Hunt in the neutral zone. Hunt skated into the offensive end and sent a centering pass to Stewart on the left side of the net.  Stewart went top shelf over the shoulder of Parisi to light the lamp.

 

Princeton evened it up with a power-play goal at 13:55.  Oakley deked Wheeler sliding from the doorstep over to the right side and sent a high shot past Wheeler.  Kate Hession and Pearce were credited with assists on the play.

 

Wheeler finished the night with 32 saves.  Young turned away 21, while Parisi made two.

 

Colgate (17-4-1) will take on Dartmouth in the ECACHL semifinals on Saturday, March 3 at Thompson Arena.  Harvard and St. Lawrence will battle it out in the second semifinal.  The winners advance to the championship game on Sunday, March 4.