CHF's ECACHL Women's Quarterfinals Preview - Part 2

#7 Colgate v. #2 Princeton

The Raiders have come out this season and pretty beat on the bottom of the ECAC including a solid sweep of Union last weekend at home to close out the regular season. This combined with a little success against the top of the conference, handing St. Lawrence one of its three losses on the season, along with victories over Brown and Clarkson. earned Colgate a seventh seed in this year’s playoffs.

Colgate has three forwards approaching the point per game mark, in Sam Hunt, Allison Paiano and Becky Irvine. In addition, sophomore Kara Leene had a career weekend against Union scoring five goals, including four in one game. Colgate’s Brooke Wheeler is capable of winning on any night, sporting a .921 save pct, and a 2.37 GAA. Tara French has added 18 assists from the blue-line, and freshman Elin Brown has seven goals, three of which were game-winners on defense for the Raiders.

Princeton is one of the hottest teams in the country, entering the playoffs as the second seed after going 10-1-0 in their last eleven games including victories over Clarkson, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown propelling them to the second place in the ECAC. Princeton has only lost one game this season by more than one goal, and with a victory in this quarterfinal will likely secure an at-large berth in this year’s NCAA tournament.

The Tigers are lead by senior goalie Roxanne Gaudiel, who went 17-5-4 and had a 1.54 GAA, good for sixth in the country. Patty Kazmeier finalist Kim Pearce, a top playmaker, leads the team with 34 points, 24 on assists. The trio of Pearce, Annie Greenwood and Marykate Oakley all average over a point per game and all three can pass and score at will. Princeton has six players topping twenty points in scoring, meaning lots of options in the offense. Dina McCumber with 19 assists this season is a defenseman who is capable of breaking out play and creating opportunities for her offense to score.

Princeton took both games against Colgate this season, 6-2, and 2-1. Princeton will need to stick to their usual gameplan. and come out firing in the first period. They have outscored teams 29-5 this season in the first period, and with that comes a gawdy 14-3-2 record when scoring first. Roxanne Gaudiel (who probably deserved to be a Patty Kaz finalist herself) is amazingly consistent, and does not have meltdowns. If Colgate is going to score on her, they’ll need to do it first, and Wheeler will have to make it stand up, because she doesn’t give up insurance goals. Colgate has had moments of brilliance throughout the years, surrounded by the inconsistency of a developing program, I believe they’ll take at least one in this series, but I can’t see them taking two of three from an extremely strong Tiger team.

Ron’s Prediction:

• Princeton 3 – Colgate 1
  
• Colgate 1 – Princeton 0
  
• Princeton 4 – Colgate 2
  
  Princeton wins series 2-1