PRINCETON, NJ – The RIT women's hockey team (5-4-2) exploded for three first period goals, but could not hang on, as host Princeton University (4-1-0) rallied to win, 4-3 in overtime at Hobey Baker Rink on Friday afternoon in a battle of Tigers.
 
Down 3-0 to start the second, Fiona McKenna and Hilary Lloyd scored second period goals, while Ali Pankowski tied the game at 3-3, 2:26 into the third period. Morgan Sly completed the comeback with a power-play goal, 1:26 into overtime for the Princeton win.
 
Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas), Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State), Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) scored for the Tigers, while Brooke Stoddart (Elmvale, Ontario/Elmvale) made 30 saves in net. Northcote's goal was the first of her collegiate career.
 
Princeton's Ashley Holt got the start in net, stopping 9-of-12 shots in the first period before being replaced to start the second by Alysia DaSilva. DaSilva stopped all 11 shots she faced for the victory.
 
Princeton out-shot RIT 34-23, including 27-11 after the first period. Princeton was 2-for-7 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 1-for-3.
 
The Tigers jumped out to the fast 3-0 lead on Princeton on the goals by McCrea, Northcote, and Brown, while holding a 12-7 edge in shots over the opening 20 minutes.
 
Just 3:30 in, McCrea was able to tap home a rebound on a shot from Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) on the power-play for her fifth goal of the season. Grigg won the faceoff back to Thurston, who fired a shot that was stopped but McCrea tapped home from in front.
 
Northcote made it 2-0 Tigers 2:45 later, as she took a feed from Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic), came in over the Princeton line and fired a shot past Holt for her first collegiate goal.
 
Brown gave RIT a 3-0 lead at the 12:04 mark of the period, getting a pass from Lindsay Stenason (Oakville, Ontario/Appleby Collegiate) in the neutral zone, coming into the Princeton zone and wiring a perfect shot past Holt for her fourth goal of the year.
 
Princeton now leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-2-2. Before today, the two teams met once in RIT's Division I era, with Princeton pulling out a 2-1 victory over the Tigers at Ritter Arena on Oct. 19, 2012. Brown scored RIT's lone goal in that contest.
 
The two teams conclude their season series on Saturday at Hobey Baker Rink, once again at 3 p.m.