Harvard Completes Sweep of Big Red

It was déjà vu all over again for the Harvard women’s hockey team on Saturday, in Game 2 of the ECAC Tournament quarterfinals against Cornell.

Just like it had the day before, the Crimson struggled to find its rhythm in the contest’s early going before breaking out in the second period and dominating the late stages of the game.

Harvard (19-9-3) shut out the Big Red (12-14-5), 4-0, at Bright Hockey Center, breaking a scoreless tie early on in the second frame before pouring on three goals in the third period.

“I thought it took us a little time to get our feet under us and play Harvard hockey,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “We started to dominate play in the second and third periods.”

Harvard was unable to create any offensive momentum heading into the second, but a hooking penalty on Cornell’s Karlee Overguard at 1:43 into the period gave the Crimson the boost it needed to get on the board.

Executing Harvard’s power play offense to perfection, junior Anna McDonald and tri-captain Sarah Vaillancourt combined for a pretty goal just over a minute after Overguard was sent to the box.

McDonald held the puck at the left circle of the Big Red zone, passed it back to Vaillancourt, and then charged the net. Completing the give-and-go, Vaillancourt fed a slick pass down low and McDonald slammed her second goal of the season past Cornell goalie Amanda Mazzotta, the team’s second-string netminder.

The goal catalyzed the Crimson offense, and Harvard controlled the tempo of the game from that point on.

“We always get so energetic after we score the first goal,” sophomore forward Liza Ryabkina said. “The first goal is always really important.”

The Crimson dominated possession of the puck for the rest of the second period—Harvard outshot the Big Red, 14-5, in the frame—but the team had to wait until the third to score again.

Two and a half minutes into the final period, Harvard doubled its lead to allow it some breathing room.

Vaillancourt took on the role of playmaker again, stealing the puck and rushing down the ice to create a 2-on-1 break with sophomore Katharine Chute. Holding the puck until Chute was in the perfect location, Vaillancourt threaded a pass right onto her linemate’s stick. Chute’s momentum did the rest of the work, and the puck entered the net to put the Crimson up, 2-0.

“She set some kids up so well today,” Stone said of Vaillancourt.

With the floodgates opened, Harvard’s third line got in on the scoring action as well, led by Ryabkina.

Just over 12 minutes into the third period, Ryabkina took the puck from sophomore Amy Uber and created some room at the point. Weaving her way around a couple of Big Red defenders, Ryabkina found an opening and deftly lasered a wrist shot past Mazzotta, giving the Crimson a 3-0 lead.

“It’s always nice to score, but it’s a team effort,” Ryabkina said. “When you do your best and your teammates do their best, that’s all that matters.”

With the clock winding down and victory an inevitability, Ryabkina scored again to punctuate the Harvard win with just under three minutes left in the game.

Cornell committed a pair of penalties—including a bizarre delay of game infraction when the Big Red’s Catherine White attempted to pick up the puck during a faceoff—Harvard found itself on a 5-on-3 power play.

The Crimson pounded the net against an overmatched Cornell penalty kill, and after Mazzotta repelled point-blank shots by Vaillancourt and tri-captain Jenny Brine, Ryabkina slammed a rebound into the net to notch her second goal of the game and ninth on the season.

“We just wanted to score,” Ryabkina said. “I was just banging it home. I wanted to score so badly, and I know my teammates did too.”

Ryabkina’s contributions were timely, with senior scoring-threat Sarah Wilson missing her second straight game due to illness. Harvard’s offensive leaders, such as Vaillancourt and Brine, draw the most attention from opposing defenses, but much of the Crimson’s strength lies in its depth.

“That’s one of the trademarks of our program,” Stone said. “When somebody’s not able to play in the lineup, somebody else steps up.”

Harvard’s offensive outburst came after a tough first period in which the Crimson managed only three shots. Harvard struggled early on against the eighth-seeded Cornell in Game 1 as well, but just as it did on Friday, the Crimson came away with a shutout.

With the win, Harvard moved on to the ECAC semifinal round, which it will host on Saturday against RPI.

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