Women's Hockey Skates to 2-2 Draw with St. Lawrence

In a desperate attempt to break the deadlock, the No. 5 Harvard women’s hockey team turned up the pressure, sustaining two possessions in the offensive zone in the last minute of overtime. In the end it was not enough, as St. Lawrence forced the Crimson’s third tie of the season, 2-2.

After smacking conference opponents Brown and Colgate in a pair of 5-2 affairs, Harvard’s (20-5-3, 16-3-2) Friday night matchup against the Saints (17-12-5, 12-6-4) was much tighter.

“I think we are all disappointed tonight in a tie,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “But not disappointed in our effort. I think our kids played really hard.”

The game got off to a chippy start with five penalties committed in the first two periods. The first period was owned by the Crimson, while the visitors acted as the aggressors for most of the second.

The game eventually tightened up as a tense final 25 minutes saw few chances on either side before the game ended in a draw at the close of overtime.

Harvard came out strong, edging its opponents 12–2 in shots on net in the first. Four of those shots came from sophomore defenseman Sarah Edney. One of which found the back of the net. The goal, which was credited to sophomore forward Hillary Crowe as it deflected off her stick, turned out to be the only puck to get past Carmen MacDonald in the opening frame.

The Crimson let its opponent back in the game in the second period, committing costly penalties and failing to account for skaters in front of the net.

St Lawrence’s Kelly Sabatine evened the score by wristing one into the back of the net from the faceoff circle during the side’s first power-play opportunity of the period.

Kayla Raniwsky put the Saints ahead, capitalizing on a puck that bounced to Maschmeyer’s weak side. The goal came on only the fifth shot directed on net for the night.

Several minutes later the puck found the back of the net again as two Harvard defenders collided and lost sight of it. Though the goal was eventually disallowed as it was slapped out of the air, it seemed as if a deflated Crimson side needed something to get them going.

That something came just minutes later as senior forward Kaitlin Spurling and sophomore forward Samantha Reber raced up the ice.

Spurling brought momentum back to the home side late in the second frame, directing a pass from the blue line past MacDonald. From there, Harvard kept firing, tallying the final six shots of the period.

“Reber made a great drop pass to me,” Spurling said. “I just got it quickly and rifled it toward the net.”

Multiple individual milestones were approached on Friday. Reber tallied a point for the third straight game, while Spurling’s three-game streak is one away from matching her career high. Over the last three games, Spurling has six points.

In the third, control swayed to Harvard, but co-captain forward Jillian Dempsey, who put six shots on net, could not seal the deal as the scoreless frame preceded an overtime period.

“We got ourselves in a little bit of a hole in the second period and got ourselves out of it,” Stone said. “But then we had tremendous momentum in the third period and in overtime.”

Scoring has been an issue for the Crimson of late. Though averaging just a shade over three and a half goals per game, Harvard has managed to surpass that number just twice in its last 11 contests. The Crimson outshot its opponents 37-17, Friday.

“I personally believe we need a greater sense of urgency getting to the net,” Stone said. “We get too fancy in those situations and we just got to ram it right down the middle.”

Several freshmen saw an increased role in the matchup, as Harvard switched things up with several lineup changes. Freshman forward Jessica Harvey saw more time on the power play, while her classmate Dylanne Crugnale was moved to the first line alongside Dempsey and junior forward Lyndsey Fry.

“I thought everybody that played really stepped up,” Stone said.

—Staff writer Daniel A. Grafstein can be reached at dgrafstein@college.harvard.edu.