Love Conquers All, Except For Corriero

For 59:53, Love conquered all.

Slapshots, backhands, wristers, one-timers—it made no difference. Despite throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Yale goalie Sarah Love Saturday night at Bright Hockey Center, the No. 3 Harvard women’s hockey team was unable to squeeze anything past her.

Then, with a mere seven seconds left in regulation and the score knotted at zero, junior Nicole Corriero decided that overtime was simply not an option.

Granted a four-on-three advantage with 0:23 remaining, Harvard (24-3-1, 14-3-0 ECAC) took control of the puck in the Bulldogs’ zone.

From the point, co-captain Angela Ruggiero passed to sophomore Julie Chu at the right post.

Chu’s first effort—like every other Crimson attempt on the afternoon—was rebuffed by Love. But this time, Corriero managed to pounce on the rebound and backhand it past the sprawling Yale netminder to end an afternoon of frustration.

“[Chu] had just thrown it to the net and somehow the puck had gotten deflected or stopped and I just got my stick on it,” Corriero said.

“Usually I would just throw it right on the net, but this time I realized that if I shot it right on the net [Love would] probably be able to stop it. So I just tried to move her to my backhand and put it high and it worked.”

For the Bulldogs (12-13-3, 8-9-0), it was the 41st straight defeat at Harvard’s hands, including a 5-1 loss to the Crimson this January.

But despite its ignominious history, Yale—and Love in particular—played Harvard tight and stingy for almost the entire game, keeping the Crimson offense in check and the Harvard fans on tenterhooks with every shot and successive save.

A loss or tie to the Bulldogs would have severely torpedoed the Crimson’s playoff plans, possibly costing the squad the ECAC regular season title and a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

“Did we dominate the game in one sense? Yes, but they were never out of it,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone.

Through from the outset Harvard had almost exclusive control of the puck, the team was slow to find its rhythm.

“I think we could start a lot faster,” Corriero said. “In general, when we don’t score right away, we let a goalie get in her groove and that causes us to have more and more problems to score on her.”

Nevertheless, it seemed inevitable that the intense battery against the Yale defense would find its mark. Corriero had six shots on goal in the first period alone, while Ruggiero had nine in the second period and finished with 12 overall.

Yet time and again, one Crimson player or another would charge in for the kill, and time and again she was turned away.

“Their goaltender was just outstanding—tremendous,” Stone said. “She probably gave us one of the best efforts we’ve seen all season. I’m glad we won, but my heart goes out to her because to lose like that at the end is tough.”

Until that final shot, Love absolutely smothered every Harvard attempt, finishing the afternoon with 45 saves. The Crimson was unable to take advantage of its first eight power plays, dominating the Bulldog zone but coming up empty every time.

Harvard also held a shots-on-goal advantage of 46-19.

“We knew it was going to come down to the wire,” Corriero said. “We were just trying to emphasize...just taking care and finishing off every play and not trying to think one person has to win this game.”

Love’s counterpart at the Harvard end, sophomore netminder Ali Boe, had a highlight reel of her own, stopping 19 shots en route to her sixth shutout of the season.

Yale was unable to convert on any of its four power plays.

While the Crimson went only 1-for-9 on the afternoon on the man-advantage, that meager percentage was enough to reward a relentless offensive attack by Harvard—and erase an all-star effort by Love.

“It really doesn’t matter how you win,” Stone said. “We can win ugly, I don’t really care. Today was a win-ugly day and that’s OK.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.