Crimson Topples No. 9 Dartmouth

On Friday night, the Harvard women’s hockey team rode two first-career goals from freshmen to gain both a crucial conference victory and a win over the ninth-ranked team in the nation when it defeated Dartmouth, 5-3.

The Crimson came out strong and took the first goal when rookie defender Marissa Gedman received a pass from fellow freshman Kalley Armstrong. Gedman took a slap shot that found the back of the net after hitting the post to score her first career goal just under eight minutes into the game. During the first period, Harvard outshot the Big Green, 10-6.

“That’s what our game plan was, to get all over them and not give them time or space to do anything,” tri-captain Kate Buesser said. “And I think that we executed that plan pretty well.”

The Crimson lost that advantage as the game progressed, as Dartmouth came back from the break with renewed intensity. The Big Green outshot Harvard in the second period, 11-5. Junior Jenna Hobeika evened the score on a power play in the second minute of the period with assists from sophomore Margaux Sharp and freshman Lauren Kelly.

Dartmouth also had the advantage in power plays during the second period, as the Crimson ran into its first bout of penalty trouble. During the 11th minute of the frame, sophomore defender Josephine Pucci was called for holding and was quickly followed to the penalty box by classmate Hilary Hayssen for delaying the game. During this time, Dartmouth had a chance to exploit the five-on-three advantage, but the Crimson managed to stop the Big Green from scoring. Freshman Lauren Joarnt made 20 saves through the game.

“[Joarnt] did well,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “She played well. She’s a little kid with a big heart. She did a good job for us tonight.”

The Crimson managed to gain enough momentum, despite the challenges of the period, to score two goals in the last two minutes of the frame. The first was scored by tri-captain Liza Ryabkina with assists from Buesser and senior Katharine Chute. After receiving the pass from Buesser, Ryabkina fired a slap shot from the right side of the ice and into the far left side of the goal.

Freshman Elizabeth Parker followed suit less than a minute later, assisted by classmates Gedman and Lyndsey Fry. From the Crimson’s defensive zone, Gedman and Fry played the puck behind the goal to an open patch of ice. Parker gained a break down the left side, charging at the goalie and letting a shot off close to the net.

“I think that a lot of that momentum came from our penalty killing,” Buesser said. “There was a five-on-three and a couple five-on-fours, and that’s huge. If you don’t let a goal in and you can just turn around and pop a few in yourself, that gives the team a huge push.”

The second period came to a close with Harvard holding a comfortable lead, and Buesser extended the advantage with a shorthanded goal six minutes into the third. When Buesser fired the shot, it appeared as though goalie Whitney Woodcox had made the save, but the puck bounced over her head and into the net.

The Big Green almost tied the score in the final minutes of the third period. With less than three minutes to go, the Crimson was down a player when officials penalized Ryabkina for diving. Dartmouth capitalized on the power-play opportunity when sophomore Sasha Nanji tipped in a shot from Hobeika that came from the far right.

With the momentum from a goal still energizing the Big Green, junior Geneva Kliman took a shot from just beyond the blue line that got by Joarnt and pulled Dartmouth within a point.

“I think that we didn’t need to have it be that tight in the end,” Stone said. “We had given ourselves a nice gap there and got in a little penalty trouble. And you can’t do that against a good team like Dartmouth. Dartmouth’s done a really good job of coming back when they’ve been down.”

With the opportunity to tie the game in sight and less than a minute to play, Dartmouth pulled its goalie in exchange for an extra skater. But the Big Green was unable to score the goal it hoped for, and, with less than 10 seconds to go, Chute gained control of the puck and carried it down the ice to tally an empty-net goal for the Crimson.

“We knew that this was a good team. They’re ranked ninth in the country right now, and we knew they weren’t going away at all,” Buesser said. “They showed that, and they fought right until the very end. But I think that we were able to stand up to it and absorb what they were doing, and it turned out well.”