The women’s hockey team will be traveling away from Yale this weekend, but they won’t be leaving last weekend’s game plan behind.

“I think that we played two really good games last weekend, and even though we didn’t win the Saturday game against Colgate, we played well as a team,” forward Crysti Howser ’09 said. “Our overall play last weekend has definitely given us a little confidence heading into this weekend.”

The Bulldogs (8-12-0, 4-9-0 ECAC) will face Princeton (3-19-4, 2-8-4 ECAC) today before taking on Quinnipiac (12-8-1, 9-5-0 ECAC) on Saturday.

When the Elis last traveled to Princeton on Jan. 11, they defeated the Tigers 5-3. In the game, the Bulldogs saw a two-goal lead vanish, and the two teams found themselves tied at three goals apiece in the final period. But forward Caroline Murphy ’10 scored two goals — one short-handed and one empty-netter — to once again seize the lead and give the Elis the 5-3 victory.

But the Bulldogs dropped their most recent contest against Princeton. A month after the Bulldogs topped the Tigers at Princeton, the two teams came back to Yale where the Elis lost, 2-1, on Feb. 8, 2008.

“We are just looking to play our style game against Princeton,” captain and forward Sarah Tittman ’09 said.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs will head just up the road to Quinnipiac. The Elis beat the Bobcats, 2-0, earlier this season in a neutral-site contest at UConn. But in its nine games since that meeting, Quinnipiac has dropped only one contest.

“They are a team that cannot be taken lightly,” Howser said. “Every team in our league has a chance to win on just about any given night, so we will have to bring our best game in order to get a win.”

These are the last two games for Yale in their first round of conference play. All ECAC teams complete two round-robins in the regular season.

The Elis, currently tied for ninth in the ECAC, are six points out of the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. Four points from two wins this weekend would help separate them from the Bobcats and propel them closer to the postseason.