Women's Ice Hockey Beats BU in Final Seconds of Overtime

After 64 minutes of play, it still wasn’t over.

In the final minute of overtime on Tuesday at the Conte Forum, the No. 6/6 Harvard women’s ice hockey team (19-3-3, 14-2-2 ECAC) found itself tied, 2-2, with Boston University (19-10-1, 12-5-0 Hockey East) in what had been a hard-fought, back-and-forth contest all evening.

With 23 seconds left on the clock, Crimson junior Samantha Reber won a face off in the Harvard zone. Seconds later, the Harvard backline had fed the puck down the ice.

“It was going to be an icing,” Reber said after the game. “[Sophomore foward] Miye D’Oench flew down the ice and beat [BU’s] player, [and] made a beautiful pass to [co-captain] Marissa Gedman, who made a unbelievable slide to me backdoor.”

Reber sprinted for the net, just in time to receive the feed from Gedman and slap the puck through the posts.

The junior’s dramatic sudden-death goal with just 10.9 seconds left on the play clock clinched the Crimson’s come-from-behind victory in Tuesday night’s Beanpot consolation contest against the Terriers.

“That was an exciting finish for sure,” said interim Harvard head coach Maura Crowell. “[It was] a good battle back-and-forth. BU is a good team. I think we showed a lot of resiliency in the end.”

The game had been a close one from the beginning, with neither team claiming much of an advantage on the scoreboard or on the ice.

Despite being outshot, 41-32, the Crimson was propelled by the play of sophomore goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer, who registered 39 stops, her second-highest total this season.

A week ago, a slow start felled the Crimson in a 4-3 loss to Northeastern in the tournament’s semifinal game. But on Tuesday, the Crimson came out firing from the start with strong performances on both ends of the ice.

“We were a totally different team this time around in the first period,” Crowell said. “[We] came out and were ready to go, and we had a great first period.”

Despite early offensive pressure from the Terriers throughout the first frame, Harvard struck first with a goal from sophomore right wing Jessica Harvey at 14:51. A shot by junior defender Sarah Edney deflected off Terrier senior goaltender Kerrin Sperry, and Harvey got her stick on the puck in front of the net to record the first goal of her collegiate career.

“It was a great shot by Sarah Edney, and I was just crashing the net hard,” Harvey said. “[I’ve] been working on that in practice a lot, just grinding it out in front of the net.”

BU responded just three minutes into the second frame. Sophomore forward Sarah Lefort launched a shot past Maschmeyer that ricocheted off the top crossbar and dropped straight down on the ice. The goal was initially waved off, but a hooking penalty on Terrier junior defender Caroline Campbell provided officials an opportunity to review the play and reverse the call.

With nine minutes left in the period, BU promised to put another one between the pipes after Maschmeyer lost her stick and a delayed checking penalty on Crimson junior forward Hillary Crowe allowed the Terriers to put an extra attacker on the ice. But Harvard broke up the BU attack and the ensuing power play to keep things even.

The Terriers continued to mount the offensive pressure, outshooting Harvard, 12-8, in the second frame, but the Crimson had its own share of close looks. Sophomore center Mary Parker broke through BU’s defensive line and had a one-on-one breakaway with Sperry, but the puck—and Parker—slid just past the net.

In the final minutes of the second period, Harvard came up with its biggest stop of the night after Elizabeth Parker and D’Oench were whistled for minor penalties 37 seconds apart. Harvard killed the five-on-three advantage to keep the score tied at one apiece heading into the third period.

BU did find success on the power play in the final frame of regulation. Senior center Louise Warren capitalized on a man advantage at 8:44 with D’Oench in the box for charging.

Down for the first time all evening, the Crimson drew even quickly. D’Oench netted her team-leading 14th goal of the season at 12:21, putting back a rebound from Reber. Eight minutes of fast-paced play later, the teams were headed into overtime.

As BU had done all night, the team outshot the Crimson in the extra frame, but Harvard found the back of the net when it counted, recording a win in the Beanpot consolation matchup for the second straight year.

It was a dramatic victory, one the Crimson will savor as it heads into its final weekend of home regular season conference play.

“I think that shows a lot about our team,” Reber said. “I think we’re really excited to come out with that win.”

—Staff writer Brenna  R. Nelsen can be reached at brenna.nelsen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonBRN.