Laurie Jolin '13 scored with 19 seconds left in overtime to stun Princeton Friday night on the Tigers' home ice. The 4-3 victory gave the women's hockey team its first ECAC Hockey win on the final weekend of the season.
"We came together as a team, and we finally played a complete game," said Head Coach Digit Murphy. "I think that's a tribute to their never-give-up spirit."
Murphy said the Bears' tenacity in rallying from a 2-0 deficit to topple the Tigers, who were playing for home ice in the playoff quarterfinals, was reminiscent of the U.S. men's Olympic hockey upset of Canada two nights later, but on a smaller scale.
"It was a similar game in that they were the better, more talented team, and we kept coming at them," Murphy said. "We played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and we had great goaltending."
The following afternoon, Brown (3-21-4, 1-18-3 ECAC Hockey) closed out the season with an 8-1 loss to Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn., with Jolin scoring the lone goal for Brown.
Brown 4, Princeton 3 (OT)
The Bears won in eerily similar fashion the last time they traveled down to Baker Rink, securing a 2-1 victory last January when Jenna Dancewicz '11 scored with 54 seconds left in overtime. They believed they could do it again.
"I just had a feeling we would win when we skated in the morning," said Vika Mykolenko '12, citing the previous victory. "It's kind of a pattern or a tradition."
But the game did not start well for Brown. Princeton scored in the first two minutes and again 2:30 into the second period to take a 2-0 lead.
Ninety seconds later Sasha Van Muyen '10 scored her team-high seventh goal, and the Bears surged back into the game.
"The whole game, we were playing with a lot of enthusiasm, and we were all around the net, and initially it wasn't going in," Murphy said. "When the puck actually started to bounce for us, our team started to believe."
Mykolenko tied the score on a two-on-one breakaway with Nicole Brown '10, who assisted on the goal, less than four minutes before the second intermission.
"I don't think they expected it, because usually we don't have many breakaways," Mykolenko said.
Katelyn Landry '12 gave Brown a 3-2 lead five minutes into the third, but it took Princeton only a minute to tie the game. Murphy said she considered calling a timeout but saw that her players remained undaunted.
"We knew we were playing well, and we were in the game, even if it was tied, so we knew we just had to stick to the game plan, and we'd get some more bounces our way," Landry said.
Neither team could score in the remaining 14 minutes of the third. In the huddle before overtime, Murphy said that her team was loose and confident. Squaring off against a tense Princeton squad that needed to win to have a chance for home ice in the opening round of the playoffs, the Bears decided to play for the victory.
"Everyone was really focused and excited," Landry said. "We always play Princeton well, and we knew that if we kept skating hard, we had a chance at getting our first win."
Katie Jamieson '13 made four of her 30 total saves to keep the Tigers at bay in the opening minutes of the extra period, giving Jolin the chance to score the game-winner.
Murphy said the Brown players were elated after a season of hard work that had not paid off with any conference victories.
"They were all jumping up and down," she said. "It was almost like we won a championship. It was fun, and it was something that they deserved."
