Sophomore Dominates in Record-Breaking Campaign

The opportunity appeared to have come and gone.

As a freshman on the women’s hockey team coming into the 2006-07 season, Christina Kessler, a highly touted recruit out of Oakville, Ont., was expected to compete for the starting goalie job right away. But when Kessler arrived at Harvard with torn ligaments in her knee, then-sophomore Brittany Martin took advantage of the lack of competition and solidified herself as a mainstay in the net.

Although Kessler healed in time to see game action towards the end of the season, Martin got the nod during the playoffs and turned in one of the all-time great performances in Crimson history, making 67 saves in a quadruple-overtime 1-0 loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA quarterfinals.

This season, while head coach Katey Stone promised to start “who[ever] stops the puck more times than anybody else,” Martin’s experience seemed to put her ahead in the race for the top spot on the depth chart. But the injury bug bit the Harvard goaltending corps once again, only this time it was Martin who went down and Kessler who emerged the starter.

The twist of fate prompted a historic season in which Kessler wrote herself into the NCAA record book—accomplishing in just her second year what took the Crimson’s last great netminder, Ali Boe ’06, an entire career.

On March 8, Kessler stopped all 13 shots sent her way by Clarkson in the ECAC semifinals to lead Harvard to a 3-0 win. The shutout—her 12th of the year—padded her NCAA single-season record and gave her 15 clean sheets over her short tenure, tying her with Boe atop the Crimson’s all-time list.

“It was a huge breakout season,” tri-captain Caitlin Cahow said. “She set new shutout records, got us through really tough games, [and] came up with huge saves at times when we really needed them.”

Signs that Kessler’s sophomore campaign would be a special one came early and often. After allowing a pair of goals in each of Harvard’s first two games, Kessler rattled off a remarkable five-game stretch in which the Crimson’s opposition scored just twice.

After blanking conference foes Yale and Brown on consecutive nights, Kessler’s faced the daunting task of protecting the net against nationally-ranked ECAC heavyweights St. Lawrence, Clarkson, and Dartmouth.

The Harvard offense provided more than enough firepower in the first two contests, and Kessler did her job to help the Crimson notch 5-1 and 5-0 wins over the Saints and Golden Knights,respectively.

But Kessler truly proved her mettle against the Big Green, when she protected a 2-1 Harvard lead in the third period while a suddenly pourous Crimson defense fell victim to penalties and lackluster play. Dartmouth launched a 13-shot flurry at Kessler in the frame, but the Harvard goalie kept her composure and withstood the Dartmouth assault to preserve the victory for her team.

Kessler’s resilience manifested itself once again after Harvard dropped its first game of the season, 4-1, to New Hampshire—the team that the Crimson had previously replaced atop the national rankings—heading into winter break on Dec. 14. While the young netminder could have let the frustrating loss and the three-week respite between games spoil the rest of her season, Kessler had other plans.

She emerged from the break in top form and played the best hockey of her career.

Over her next 14 games, Kessler allowed just six goals and tallied eight shutouts, including her 11th of the year on Feb. 16, which set the NCAA single-season record.

“You do have bad games,” Kessler said. “You do let some goals in, but as [Stone] says, ‘It’s not the mistakes you make; it’s the way you bounce back.’ I really took that to heart.”

Kessler’s determination helped lead Harvard to several accolades, including the Beanpot Championship, ECAC Championship, and the No. 1 spot in the national rankings. She finished the season first in the nation with a .952 save percentage and second with a 1.06 goals against average, setting Harvard single-season records in both categories in the process.

While the Crimson ultimately suffered a disappointing 4-1 loss to Wisconsin in the Frozen Four of the NCAA tournament, the team will prepare for its next title run with the reassuring knowledge that it will once again have Christina Kessler in net as its last line of defense, and that she’s there to stay.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.