Women's Hockey Crushes Yale, 8-0

After less than five minutes of play in the first period of Friday night’s matchup, the No. 8/9 Harvard women’s hockey team had already amassed a two-goal lead over rival Yale at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn. And the Crimson didn’t stop there, netting six more goals over the course of the game to earn its second straight ECAC victory, 8-0.

“It was great that we were able to get on the board early,” junior forward Jillian Dempsey said. “We said before the game that we wanted to score early and often, and we were able to do a little bit of both.”

Dempsey started the Harvard (13-6-1, 10-4-1 ECAC) scoring onslaught with a goal 3:40 into the contest. Less than a minute later, classmate Kaitlin Spurling followed suit, putting away her first of two goals in the frame to lead Harvard in its most fruitful offensive effort of the year.

“Our three lines are pretty well balanced, and everyone has a knack for finding everyone else on their line,” Spurling said. “We were able to use our small [numbers] and our team’s chemistry to our advantage on the ice.”

Spurling converted her second goal of the period at 14:12, sending the Crimson into the break with a commanding lead. Sophomore forward Kalley Armstrong and rookie forward Hillary Crowe were credited with assists on the play.

After the three-goal opening frame, Harvard continued to dominate, outshooting the Bulldogs (1-21, 1-14), 46-9, on the night. Seven players—including a balanced spread of two freshmen, three sophomores, and two juniors—contributed at least a goal for the Crimson.

“Obviously we have such a small team in numbers, with only 18, but for us that’s an advantage,” Dempsey said. “Everyone is able to contribute and play, so we all know we need to be ready to go any given night. Everyone works so hard, and when people get chances, they bury it. We’re lucky to have such great depth.”

In the second period, Harvard scored quickly once again, with sophomore forward Gina McDonald converting the tally for the Crimson 2:50 in. Freshman forward Sami Reber pushed Harvard’s lead to five with a score of her own shortly before the 10-minute mark in the middle frame.

The Crimson put away three more goals in the final period, with sophomore forwards Kalley Armstrong and Elizabeth Parker and freshman forward Hillary Crowe collectively netting three goals in a span of just over seven minutes.

Armstrong boosted Harvard’s already-large advantage to six, with a goal in the 12th minute of play, and Crowe found the back of the net just 2:32 later.

Parker closed out the scoring for the Crimson at 17:19.

“We take every game one step at a time,” Spurling said. “We came into this weekend saying that ‘we want four points, we want four points.’ We went in and did the job.”

Despite letting the puck slip through eight times, the Bulldogs’ goaltending duo of Jaimie Leonoff and Genny Ladiges combined for 38 saves on the night.

The Harvard defense looked strong against Yale, forcing junior goaltender Laura Bellamy to make just nine saves on the way to her second straight shutout, with the other win coming in the Crimson’s recent contest against Colgate at Bright Hockey Center. Last night’s victory marked the junior assistant captain’s fifth clean sheet of the season.

“Something [Harvard coach Katey Stone] told us before the game [is] we have to be good defensively if we want to be good offensively,” Spurling said. “That really translated [Friday night].”

“We challenged ourselves about halfway through the game,” Dempsey added. “We thought we were doing a great job with pressure and wanted to limit Yale to only 10 shots.… We were happy to come out, start strong, and continue to be strong the whole game.”

Although the outcome of the traditional rivalry matchup of Harvard and Yale was a bit lopsided this year, Dempsey stressed that she and her Crimson teammates view every game as important.

“We seem like we have a rivalry with everybody,” Dempsey said. “And Harvard-Yale is just another big game for us. We didn’t really think about that too much going into the game. We always say that the next game is always the biggest game. The rivalry didn’t really seem to factor in too much.”

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu