Harvard Tops St. Lawrence

Heading to the locker room after the first period, the Harvard women’s hockey could have easily found a lot of positives despite being outshot 17 to six at Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y.

The score was tied 1-1 at the first break, and senior goaltender Ali Boe looked to be on her game in net for the Crimson.

With the momentum of staying in the game against the No. 2 St. Lawrence squad, Harvard (17-12-4) made its most important mark of the season and downed the Saints (30-4-2) by a final of 3-1 in the ECAC tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s a tough loss to swallow because we got more scoring opportunities even though we lost,” said St. Lawrence captain Kate Michael following the contest. “This is a wake up call to the whole team. They know they don’t want to feel this way next weekend.”

While the Saints will still be playing—and probably hosting—in the first round of the NCAA Frozen Eight, the Crimson kept its season alive with the upset victory.

Boe, one of the main reasons Harvard has had the level of success it did this season, played the pivotal role by repelling the potent St. Lawrence offense.

“It’s very disappointing, particularly playing at home after having a 30-win season, but at least we know we’re still going to be playing,” said Saints coach Paul Flanagan.

Boe stopped 40 offerings from St. Lawrence in the win, only giving up one goal during five Saints power plays. St. Lawrence boast the second-best scoring offense in the country, but only forward Crystal Connors could find a seam past Boe and hit the back of the net.

“What I am most impressed about was that we were determined to go after the net, we were a threat in the offensive zone, we had solid defense and great goaltending,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone after the game. “A solid collective effort.”

And in the offensive zone, junior Liza Solley had one of the best games of her career—considering the performance in a win-or-go-home situation—by netting two pucks against the Saints’ Meghan Gluckian. The first opened the scoring midway through the first period on Friday, while the second proved to be the game-winner.

On the latter, Solley received a pass from the stick of Norah Sluzas on the blue line and put a shot on net. Gluckian stuffed the offer, but Solley picked up the rebound, and after going around the net, beat the Saints’ goalie for the game-winner with just under six minutes left to play.

Junior Jennifer Sifers—who assisted on Solley’s first goal—added a clincher as time ran down.

The 3-1 upset victory was a far cry from the last contest between the two squads when St. Lawrence won 3-0, but the Crimson had pressured the Saints for the whole contest.

“Even though we lost last time, we hit three posts and carried the play for two periods, and our girls remember that,” Stone said.

The win in the ECAC semifinals propelled Harvard to the championship game against Brown yesterday, and it also kept the Crimson alive for a bid in the NCAA national championship.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.