W. Hockey Takes Its Revenge in Rematch

The Harvard women’s hockey team didn’t have to wait long to exact revenge on St. Lawrence for the 3-3 tie on Friday night.

In the Appleton Arena rematch at 4 p.m. on Saturday, the Crimson went ahead 1-0 on just its first shift when captain Jennifer Botterill received the puck behind the net and found junior Lauren McAuliffe open near the crease for a one-timer. The No. 6 Saints’ delusion of parity with the No. 1 Crimson lasted just 24 seconds.

Harvard (21-1-1, 10-0-1 ECAC) went on to defeat St. Lawrence (18-7-4, 8-4-2) 6-1. The Saturday result left no doubt as to which of the two teams was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

“They’re a fine team, but we knew that we were better,” said McAuliffe, who finished with a goal and two assists. “We just wanted to send everyone a message that we’re not equal to that team.”

Botterill tallied two goals and four assists to figure on all six Crimson scores. The first point was the 300th of her career. Only two other women’s college hockey players have reached that plateau—Harvard’s Tammy Shewchuk ’00-’01 and Dartmouth’s Gretchen Ulion. Botterill, with 305 career points, is on pace to pass Shewchuk’s 307 and Ulion’s 312 within the next week or two.

Botterill beat St. Lawrence goaltender Rachel Barrie five-hole for the 2-0 lead at the 6:18 mark, and a shot from captain Angela Ruggiero that fluttered over Barrie’s blocker extended the lead to 3-0 eight minutes into the game.

“We were just determined and fired up, and we wanted to set the pace early,” Botterill said.

Harvard wasn’t as smooth out of the gates in the second period—this time it took the first line a whole 29 seconds to score. St. Lawrence won the faceoff, but Botterill and freshman Julie Chu broke back on a two-on-one, with Botterill setting up Chu for the finish and the 4-0 lead.

“After everything that we experienced the day before, the frustrations were coming through the following day,” Ruggiero said in explanation of Harvard’s quick starts to the first two periods.

On Friday, St. Lawrence combated Harvard’s usually unbreakable forecheck by playing its forwards low, forcing Harvard’s defensemen to pinch and making the Crimson susceptible to Saint odd-man rushes all evening. The next day, the Crimson executed three different forechecking systems and stifled St. Lawrence’s breakout attempts.

The Crimson also made adjustments in its defensive zone coverage. Harvard has rarely spent time in its own end this season, and it showed at times on Friday. Harvard defenders merely stood next to attackers, allowing St. Lawrence second and third rebound opportunities. That problem was corrected on Saturday.

“That second game was just key for us because we got to prove to ourselves that our game is really a smart game,” said Harvard goaltender Jessica Ruddock, who stopped 21 of 22 shots. “We can adjust. We were trying to figure it out on Friday, but we didn’t figure it all out until the next day.”

On the offensive end, Harvard created better opportunities against Barrie, who was still outstanding. Barrie stopped 31 of 37 shots, including eight on a single power play in the second period.

It was on that Harvard power play that the Crimson surrendered its only blemish—a shorthanded goal from the Saints’ Amanda Sargeant, who cut the Crimson lead to 4-1 and moved within a point of St. Lawrence’s all-time scoring record.

Harvard iced the game with two more goals in the third—a Chu power-play goal at the 10:51 mark and a Botterill goal with 17 seconds left. Chu, who had been held without a point for the first time in her career on Saturday, finished with two goals and two assists.

The victory on Saturday made for a much more pleasant bus ride home.

“Even though we [tied on Friday], I take a lot from the weekend,” Ruggiero said, “especially because we got to stick it to them the next day.”

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.