Tigers Topple Crimson In Final Seconds of OT

The Harvard women’s hockey team rallied in the last period in its game against Princeton last Saturday night but ultimately came up short, falling to the Tigers, 2-1.

The Crimson outshot the Tigers in overtime, 4-1, but came up empty handed when sophomore Heather Landry stole the puck from Harvard and raced towards the net on a breakaway—scoring the game-winning goal with only 31 seconds to play in overtime.

“We were throwing the puck around a little,” co-captain Kathryn Farni said. “We had a lot of energy, but we just couldn’t quite channel it to where it needed to go, and that definitely showed up on the shots and scoreboard.”

Landry’s tally overshadowed a breakout performance by Crimson freshman Josephine Pucci, who scored her first career goal with 1:26 left in the third period to put Harvard back in the game. Open at the point, she slammed the puck into the back of the net to tie the game, 1-1, and shifted the momentum in favor of the Crimson.

“Shortly right after, we went into overtime, and I’m pretty sure we outshot them in overtime, but I felt like we had control,” Pucci said. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

Princeton opened the scoring with a powerplay goal just 3:56 into the first period.

Junior Laura Martindale fed the puck to sophomore Danielle DiCesare, who launched a shot at senior goaltender Christina Kessler. The puck bounced off Kessler’s pads and right onto the stick of a charging Landry, who slammed a shot into the empty side of the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Princeton made 16 attempts on net, but all were deflected by Kessler. The Crimson goalie kept her team in the game and set a new career mark with 37 saves on the night.

“She did a very good job,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We weren’t ready to play at the beginning of the game, so she had to do a lot to keep us in the game, and she did that. It’s unfortunate what happened at the end of the game, but she kept us in the game until the second period.”

“Kessler’s there when we need her,” Farni added. “She’s that kind of goalie. When you need her to make big saves for you, she makes them. She made some pretty unbelievable saves on our penalty kill.”

Still, Farni wasn’t happy with the load that the team placed on Kessler. Harvard tallied 26 shots on goal but was soundly outshot by Princeton, which sent 39 pucks towards the Crimson net.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to put her in that position,” Farni said. “That’s not really a ‘team first’ kind of play to put her in the position to keep us in the game. But she did a great job.”

Near the end of the third period, the rest of the Crimson caught up with Kessler’s effort, when Pucci’s goal temporarily gave Harvard the excitement it had been looking for.

“It was an awesome feeling that the game was tied up, and we got to go into overtime, but I wish we could’ve won it in the end,” Pucci said, “It was still really exciting, especially since it was the first game [I scored].”

Princeton goalie Rachel Weber kept Harvard silent the rest of the game with four saves in the extra period.

While the Crimson was coming off a 3-0 shutout over St. Lawrence last weekend, the Tigers kept Harvard’s sticks unusually quiet with strong defense.

With a strong defense and Kessler in the net, the Crimson will continue to compete against its opponents but will need to make adjustments all over the ice.

“We want to improve on everything,” Stone said, “we want to be ready, we don’t want to be selfish, we don’t want to change lines inappropriately. That’s what happened at the end. It gave [Princeton] an opportunity that they never should’ve had.”