Game Three: Staying Alive

Two overtimes—almost 225 minutes of play—and one goal that ended it all.

It took the Harvard women’s hockey team all three games and every minute to finish off Clarkson, but a goal from Jennifer Sifers with 4:22 gone in the second overtime gave the Crimson a 2-1 victory, sending the team into the semifinals against St. Lawrence next Friday.

The matchup had been a tight one all weekend, with sharp play from both squads, and every game decided by a single goal.

“We match up really well,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “Particularly this year, we’ve matched up really well with them. We knew it was going to be close.”

The second overtime was evenly played.

The Crimson took six shots to the Golden Knights’ five, but that extra shot was all that counted.

Junior Liza Solley brought the puck up the left side of the ice and passed it to Sifers waiting in the slot. And with a slapshot past the goaltender’s right shoulder and into the top right of the net, Sifers scored her second goal of the game.

“[Sifers] is a rock star and she does everything we ask her to,” Stone said. “She ripped it. We call her Snipes, and its kind of a joke, but that was a snipe today—that last shot was a great shot.”

The first period looked anything but sharp for both teams—especially Harvard, which struggled to take accurate shots, clear the puck, and keep the puck in the zone.

Clarkson took an early 1-0 lead when the defense was unable to clear. Golden Knights center Marie-Jo Gaudet got the puck from winger Christine Bailkowski just above the crease, putting it past senior goalkeeper Ali Boe with 9:09 gone.

The Crimson was lucky to make it into the second period with just that deficit and another chance to apply aggressive pressure to Clarkson.

And the team did just that.

After numerous opportunities, with just under 19 minutes gone in the period, Solley took a shot from the left circle that junior goalkeeper Kira Hurley deflected.

But the puck landed right in front of the stick of Sifers, who slapped the shot just under the crossbar and into the back of the net to make it a 1-1 game, 18:36 into the second.

“Coach kept saying on that first goal ‘get the rebounds, get the rebounds, get the rebounds,’” Sifers said. “And you hate when she’s right, but she was dead right.”

The third period and the first overtime brought a continuation of the solid play Harvard exhibited in the middle of regulation.

With the Crimson outshooting the Golden Knights 26 to 9, the stellar play of Hurley kept the game close.

Hurley made 51 saves, becoming seemingly stronger in net as the game went on.

In the end, Harvard’s strengths were too much for Clarkson.

“All of our kids played so hard,” Stone said. “Everybody was there jumping into the deep end today and that’s what we needed.”

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.