NOTEBOOK: Freshmen Boost Offense in Quinnipiac Win

Harvard eked out two come-from-behind wins this weekend against Quinnipiac and Princeton by calling on a mix of young guns and seasoned veterans to ignite its offense.

The rookie class shined on Friday night, with goals coming from freshmen Kate Buesser, Liza Ryabkina, and Katharine Chute in their first collegiate games.

On Saturday afternoon, a trio with a few more years of experience provided the scoring. Senior tri-captain Caitlin Cahow, junior Sarah Vaillancourt, and sophomore Cori Bassett each capitalized on a Crimson power play to squeak past Ivy League foe, Princeton, by a 3-2 count.

“It builds character and it grows gray hair,” head coach Katey Stone said of the team’s comebacks this weekend. “You have to find a way to win these games—every game is going to be different.”

In both games, late-game line adjustments sparked the offense.

On Friday night against Quinnipiac, sophomore Anna McDonald replaced Chute on the first line in the third period, allowing Chute to take over as center on the second line. Chute finished the rebound of a shot from Vaillancourt with 10:47 left to play.

The next day, Chute rejoined the first line in the third frame and McDonald returned to the second line with juniors Jenny Brine and Sarah Wilson. A checking line comprised of Buesser, junior Kristen Kester, and sophomore Randi Griffin was constructed to improve defense and limit faceoffs in the defensive zone.

The revamped Vaillancourt line went on to notch two goals within a minute and a half in the third period.

“We didn’t really try to match lines,” Stone said of the adjustments, “but we sort of spotted where we wanted them and everything worked out well.”



NOT SO SPECIAL

Harvard’s special teams showed signs of early-season rust over the weekend.

“This time of year special teams are the things that are usually not as sharp, so we’ll just keep working on it,” Stone said.

The Crimson committed seven penalties against Quinnipiac, with four coming in the second frame, including separate whistles on Vaillancourt for roughing and elbowing. Both Bobcats scores came on the power play, the first at 5-on-3 and the second at 4-on-3.

“We took some tough penalties,” Stone said. “Early in the season when you’re still working on your penalty kill you don’t necessarily want to test it that much.”

On offense, the Crimson capitalized on two of five power-play opportunities against Quinnipiac and had three extra-skater goals in seven tries versus Princeton, but two of those came in the third period.

“We’ve been struggling to get our power play going,” said Cahow. “Princeton was very aggressive on the penalty kill. They really stopped us pretty well in the first two periods.”

AROUND THE ECAC

A total of five ECAC contests were played across the Northeast this weekend. Last year’s ECAC champion Dartmouth had its hands full with Princeton on Friday night, notching the winning goal with just 4:16 left in an eventual 4-3 victory. The Big Green cruised on Saturday, skating to an 8-1 triumph over Quinnipiac.

Yale and Brown squared off in an Ivy League showdown on Saturday, and the first-place Bulldogs pulled out a 3-0 shutout win. ECAC heavyweight St. Lawrence secured two wins over Wayne State in non-conference play. Harvard, Dartmouth, and St. Lawrence are tied for second place in the ECAC.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Compton can be reached at compton@fas.harvard.