The women’s hockey team battled both Princeton and Quinnipiac this weekend, losing both games. The Raiders now hold an overall record of 7-22-1 and an ECAC standing of 4-13-1.  

In Friday’s bout against the Tigers, the Raiders fell behind two goals midway through the second period before they were able to notch their first. First year Lauren Wildfang, however, found the back of the net in the second period, narrowing the gap between the Raiders and the Tigers. In the third period, Princeton tallied their third team goal on a power play from a Raider hooking penalty.  As a last effort to generate some scoring opportunities in front of the net with an extra skater on the ice, the Raiders pulled junior keep Ashlynne Rando from net. Unfortunately, the Tigers were able to capitalize on the open net opportunity and secured their 4-1 victory over the Raiders. The game was relatively close in both shots on net and face-off wins, with the Tigers coming in at slightly higher numbers than the Raiders. Rando played well in this Friday tilt and highlighted some of the good things to come out of the Princeton game. 

“For starters, we were executing our offensive zone plays, and the majority of the second period was spent playing in their end…We just didn’t get the bounces we needed to be successful, but that happens,” she said. First year Kailia Pinkney also shared some insight about the tough loss against Princeton. 

“Princeton played a solid, rounded game and put up a good fight. Our team battled hard to create

opportunities but it wasn’t enough in the end,” she said.

Princeton played a solid 60 minutes, and the Raiders were just not as lucky in front of the net as the Tigers were. When the Raiders faltered in the defensive zone, Princeton was able to capitalize and put themselves one step closer to the win. 

The game against Quinnipiac this past Saturday was another tough loss for the Raiders. Quinnipiac is nationally ranked and dominated the Raiders up and down the ice. In fact, Quinnipiac doubled the amount of shots on net, ending the game with 48 compared to the Raiders’ 24. 

“It’s always easier to point out the negatives, or to make up excuses for ourselves, but at the end of the day we needed to want it more,” Rando said.  

Although the Raiders seemed to be one step behind Quinnipiac the majority of the 60 minutes, goalie Rando played an unbelievable game, saving a season high of 46 shots.  

“Rando stood on her head, but they were able to capitalize on their chances, and we couldn’t finish on our part,” Pinkney said. 

On her own outstanding performance, Rando humbly said, “I mean from my perspective the only thing that could have gone better would have been making 48 saves not 46.”

The Raiders needed to generate some more offensive opportunities, and I think that was their biggest fault this weekend.  That said, the Raiders have four more games to forget about this weekend’s performance and prepare for some  

post-season play.  

In preparation about the remaining games of the season, Rando said, “It’s not a secret in the locker room that every day we are fighting to play another day. I think the past two weeks we have brought an unwavering focus into the rink, day in and day out, and it’s just a matter of continuing to do that.”

This weekend, the Raiders have two home games against Dartmouth and Harvard.  The Friday game against Dartmouth is the Autism Awareness game, giving the Raiders, as Rando put it, “something bigger than ourselves to play for.”

The puck drops at 7 p.m. in Starr Rink for the Dartmouth game, and 4 p.m. Saturday against Harvard. The Raiders will hopefully be able to turn their season around and play at the caliber we know they are capable of in these two home bouts.