Wayne women earn one point at Princeton

The Wayne State women's team was on the road in Princeton, N.J. last weekend, where they lost to the seventh-ranked Tigers 5-2 on Friday, but managed a 2-2 tie on Saturday.

On Friday, Princeton sneaked an early goal past Valery Turcotte to get on the board first. Later in the period, captain Jessica Snelgrove capitalized on a power play to earn her first tally of the season. Freshman Amanda Hungle was credited with an assist. However, Princeton scored two additional goals before the end of the first stanza, and two more within the first ten minutes of the second period. With the score 5-1 in favor of the Tigers, Warriors coach Jim Fetter opted to replace Turcotte with sophomore goaltender Tiffany Thompson (pictured left).

While Thompson would shut out the Tigers for the rest of the game, en route to earning the starting slot the next evening, Princeton's damage was done. The Warriors made an impressive effort, outshooting the Tigers 10-6 in the third, but their only goal came when Melissa Boal and Sarah Campbell set up freshman blueliner Tina Vanderhoeven on a power play at 12:52 of the period.

On Saturday, Thompson was Wayne's MVP for the first two periods, shutting out the Tigers and allowing Lindsey DiPietro's power-play goal--assisted by Vanderhoeven and Sam Poyton--to stand as the game's only tally. Princeton opened the third stanza by scoring two consecutive goals: the first on a power play and the second during a four-on-four stretch.

Poyton evened the score at 12:52 of the third period--her 13th of the season--with some help from Boal and Danielle Wilson. Princeton fired most of their 16 third period shots in the latter portion of the period, but they could not rattle Thompson, whose rock-solid effort gave the Warriors a chance in overtime.

Both the Warriors and the Tigers managed three shots in overtime, but both goalies held steady, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. Thompson finished with 33 saves in the game.

The Warriors are idle until January 6-7 when they will host the Wisconsin Badgers.