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Princeton Shocks No. 11 Hartwick 11-7 in Eastern Championship Third Place Game
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Helen Meigs (Sr., Solana Beach, Calif./The Bishop's School) scored three times while three other Tigers added pairs of markers as Princeton University stunned No. 11-ranked Hartwick College 11-7 in the third place game of the 2010 Eastern Championship at the University of Maryland.
The victory avenges a 10-8 loss to the Hawks earlier in the season and marks the Tigers' highest finish at the Eastern Championship since placing second in 2007 with an 8-6 loss versus Hartwick.
Princeton trailed for under three minutes in the first period as Jessica McKee (Jr., Tustin, Calif./Laguna Beach) scored off a cross-pass at the 6:35 mark. The Tigers closed out the period with back-to-back goals by Cari Levine (Jr., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) at 3:27 and a five-meter penalty shot by Phoebe Champion (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) with 49 seconds to put Princeton in front to stay.
The margin expanded to 3-1 66 seconds into the second period when Saranna Soroka (Fr., Redondo Beach, Calif./Chadwick School) turned her defender on the left-wing and whistled a shot into the back of the cage for a two-goal lead. Hartwick and Princeton traded shots throughout the remainder of the first half as the Hawks closed the gap to 3-2 with a marker by Lily Martinez (Fr., Commerce, Calif./Montebello) off a drive down the middle of the tank at the 6:23 mark, but the Tigers clawed their way out to a 5-2 lead.
The push to the three goal lead came about as Levine skipped a shot from the left-wing into the twine at 6:02 and Tanya Wilcox (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) whipped a back-handed shot into the cage at 1:36 to make it 5-2. Hartwick closed the gap to a pair of markers 33 seconds later when McKee lobbed a shot past Princeton goalie Kristen Ward (So., Sacramento, Calif./St. Francis) to trim the Tigers' lead to 5-3 at halftime.
The spread did not change in the third period as Hartwick closed the gap to 6-5 with 4:06 remaining in the third frame, but Princeton outscored the Hawks 2-1 in the final four minutes of the period to take an 8-6 lead into the fourth period.
Facing eight minutes of play until potentially the biggest upset in recent Eastern Championship history, Princeton saw the lead shaved back to one at 8-7 with 7:23 to go courtesy a man-up tally by Hanneke Alferink (Jr., Nijverdal, Netherlands/University of Groningen). However, the Tigers did not ball-up and lie down as Meigs broke behind her defender and finished a feed to make it 9-7 with 7:02 to play in the contest. The margin expanded to the 11-7 final as Brittany Zwirner (Fr., Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) bombed away with back-to-back tallies at the 4:28 and 3:43 marks to build an insurmountable lead and power the Tigers to the four-goal victory.
In goal, Ward stopped five shots to pick up the win, while Jessica Dorman (Jr., Auckland, New Zealand/Diocesan) blocked down seven shots in suffering the loss for the Hawks.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| Princeton University | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | 11 |
| No. 11 Hartwick College | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | -- | 7 |
Hartwick Goals: Jessica McKee (3); Lily Martinez (3); Hanneke Alferink
Princeton Goals: Helen Meigs (3); Phoebe Champion (2); Cari Levine (2); Brittany Zwirner (2); Tanya Wilcox; Saranna Soroka
Saves: Hartwick - Jessica Dorman (7) ; Princeton - Kristen Ward (5)
Exclusions: Hartwick - 6 ; Princeton - 7
Advantage Opportunities: Hartwick - 0-for-7 ; Princeton - 1-for-6
Sprints: Hartwick - 0-for-4 ; Princeton - 4-for-4
Princeton finished third or higher at the Eastern Championship for the first time since 2007
