CANTON, N.Y. — Three points from Carly Bullock and 40 saves from Steph Neatby helped No. 10 Princeton hand No. 3 St. Lawrence just its third home loss of the season on Sunday, 4-2.
The first period saw a combined 22 shots, but Neatby and Saints goalie Grace Harrison were up to the task. The second period was slightly different, as each team found the back of the net twice.
The Saints scored both of their goals in under a minute early in the second period, before the Tigers scored four straight over the second and third periods.
Dakota Golde picked up her third goal of the season for SLU, knocking home a rebound at the side of the net with 5:32 elapsed in the middle frame. Senior Brooke Webster potted her 19th of the season 42 seconds later when she found a loose puck in front of the net and flipped it over the shoulder of Neatby to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.
“I never once lost belief in my team,” Neatby said after the win, her ninth of the season. “We are a mentally tough team, and I thought the whole time we were going to come back. We scored two big goals in that period, and from then on, we just worked together.”
Those two big goals came courtesy of Bullock and Claire Thompson and got the Tigers even with St. Lawrence. Bullock scored first, netting her 16th of the season 11:19 into the second period.
“Kelsey [Koelzer] had it down low and then brought it out to me. I was able to go around the goalie and had a wide-open net and was able to backhand it in,” said Bullock. “We knew we had to go get one before they got another one — the two-goal lead is the hardest to defend — so if we were able to get one before they did, it would change the momentum.”
A cross-checking penalty on Kayla Vespa sent Princeton to the power play with 1:04 left in the second period, and it took Thompson just four seconds to score with a shot from above the faceoff dot. Princeton found its tying goal and was ready to attack to open the third.
Bullock grabbed her second of the game 3:26 into the final period, picking up her own rebound in close and jamming it past Harrison to put the Tigers on top.
Neatby stopped all 13 shots SLU fired at her in the third, and Bullock assisted on Molly Contini’s empty-net goal to give Princeton the 4-2 win.
After the victory, Princeton coach Jeff Kampersal praised the resiliency of his team in battling back from a two-goal deficit after a tough loss the night before.
“Our kids showed a lot of heart and courage, and they had some big blocked shots,” he said. “They did all the little things required to win a game. It wasn’t perfect, it was a little chaotic but they stayed with.”
Saints coach Chris Wells was also pleased with the effort of his team, even though it came out on the losing end in a game where it outshot its opponent 42-30.
“We had plenty of chances to score. Neatby did a good job keeping the puck out, and I thought their defense did a good job of getting to a sticks and lifting them just before we shot it,” said Wells. “Another night we might have had eight goals, and tonight we only had two, and they capitalized on their opportunities.”
The Saints close out their regular season on the road next weekend against Cornell and Colgate while Princeton finishes at home with matchups against Rensselaer and Princeton.
