For Brianne Mahoney, playing last weekend in the final regular season home games of her career with the Princeton University women’s hockey team sparked a desire for a return engagement.

“It is kind of exciting and also sad,” said senior defenseman Mahoney. “I think it is a motivation in order to get home ice for the playoffs so we can play here again.”

Mahoney has felt at home with classmates Ashley Holt, Brianna Leahy, and Ali Pankowski over the last four years.

“We are a small class so we are pretty close,” said Mahoney. “I am lucky to have all of them as teammates. It is really fun playing this weekend with them.”

Having been paired on defense with Pankowski since freshman year has been a fun experience for Mahoney.

“We have been d-partners since day one,” said Mahoney. “We always know what each other is thinking. It is pretty easy to play off of each other, we have a similar style.”

The Tiger seniors went out in style in their final Baker Rink regular season weekend as Princeton topped Colgate 4-1 on Friday and then edged No. 9 Cornell 3-2 a day later.

Against Colgate, Mahoney helped Princeton get started on the right foot, assisting on a Molly Contini goal midway through the first period as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead.

“I took a shot from the point,” recalled Mahoney. “I definitely don’t have an Ali Pankowski shot but whenever you see Molly Contini in front of the net, you just shoot towards her and hope that she can get some part of her body or stick on the puck and it usually goes in. I had my head up and once I saw Molly, I hit her.”

After taking a 2-0 lead early in the second period, Princeton hit a lull as Colgate fought back to make it a 2-1 game heading into the third period. Tiger head coach Jeff Kampersal had a stern message for his players at the second intermission.

“Jeff wasn’t too happy, he said don’t think that you are better than you are,” recalled Mahoney. “Play like you did against Harvard (a 1-0 win on on January 31) and play your game. That’s what we did, we play well when we do that.”

Mahoney got her offensive game going in the third period, getting another assist as she helped to set up a goal by sophomore Morgan Sly with 14:34 remaining in regulation.

“The goalie was giving up rebounds,” said Mahoney. “It popped out so I thought I might as well slap shot this one again and it worked.”

Princeton added an empty net goal by Jaimie McDonell to make the final margin 4-1.

While it wasn’t Princeton’s sharpest performance, the bottom line was getting the win.

“Any two points is a good two points, even if they are a little scrappy,” said Mahoney.

“Colgate is scrappy so you have to be scrappy to play against them. The games are winding down so each one is more important than the next.”

With the season winding down, Mahoney is savoring her Princeton hockey experience.

“Everyone says it but it has been really fast,” said Mahoney a 5’7 native of Clarendon Hills, Ill., who now has eight assists this season and 19 points in her career on three goals and 16 assists.

“I have been lucky to have the program I am with, the coaches and the teammates. I am very fortunate, it has been a blessing.”

Princeton head coach Kampersal feels fortunate to have has Mahoney and her classmates in the program.

“They have all stepped up this year in different roles,” said Kampersal.

“Ashley Holt doesn’t get to play as much but she is a good behind the scenes person, sort of like a team mom, taking care of issues and anything that pops up. The two defensemen (Mahoney and Pankowski) play a lot and they play under duress a lot. They do a good job breaking the puck out. Leahy has been a solid performer all year with her goals so we hope that she has a couple left in the tank as we head into the last couple of games here.”

Acknowledging that he was upset by his team’s lull in the second period, he liked the way the Tigers closed the deal.

“I ripped the kids after the second period because I thought we were playing for the scoresheet and not playing a good team game,” said Kampersal.

“In the third period, we just played a good team game so that was way better.”

A day later, Princeton played another good game, rallying from a 2-1 deficit early in the third period to pull out a 3-2 win over Cornell as sophomore Hilary Lloyd scored the game-winning goal with 1:19 left in regulation.

The win improved Princeton to 13-10-2 overall and 11-6-1 ECAC Hockey, leaving it sixth in the league standing, three points away from fourth place and home ice in the playoffs. It also put the Tigers in the thick of the race for the Ivy League title as they are 6-1-1 in Ivy games while Harvard is 7-2.

“If we can pull it off we are in a really good position to win the Ivy League,” said Kampersal, looking ahead to the Cornell game.

“There is a lot riding on it and that includes the home ice. I definitely would like to play here rather than travel.”

In Mahoney’s view, Princeton is poised for a good ride to the finish.

“The Ivy League is on our minds, the ECAC is on our minds as well,” said Mahoney.

“The Ivy League is tops right now. We have never been in this position since I have been here. We have always had to have another team lose. We have it in our hands so if we win, we are in a very good spot. We have been rolling since we got done with finals.”