Women's Hockey Shuts Out Colgate, 4-0

For the Harvard women’s hockey team, it’s good to be home.

After a four-game road trip that culminated with a late-game loss to Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., the No. 5/5 Crimson (13-3-2, 10-2-1 ECAC) made a triumphant return to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center with a 4-0 victory over Colgate (5-19-0, 2-10-0). Senior forwards Lydnsey Fry and Kalley Armstrong and senior defender Josephine Pucci each recorded two points as Harvard won its eighth consecutive home game.

“I think that everyone just loves being at our rink,” Pucci said. “It’s a great atmosphere…and everyone’s favorite place to play for sure.”

Two minutes into the second frame, Armstrong put the Crimson on the board with a point-blank finish thanks to an assist from Fry. After controlling the puck on the left side of the crease, Fry squirted a pass through the several Raiders defenseman to find Armstrong unmarked in front of the net.

The Armstrong-Fry connection repeated 11 minutes later, when Fry snapped a shot on target. Armstrong pushed forward, redirected the in-flight puck, and earned her second goal of the night to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage.

Armstrong has exploded in recent play after a quiet start to the season. Over the first three months of competition, the senior didn’t muster a single point; in the month of January alone, she has recorded seven, including three goals.

“[A] big thing is that we have a lot of depth,” Pucci said. “That’s going to help us wear down teams.”

The same narrative has applied to Pucci, who was sidelined by a head injury until the beginning of January. Since her return, the defenseman has accounted for six points, including this recent pair against Colgate.

With less than two minutes left to play, Pucci capped off Harvard’s win with a power-play goal. Junior defenseman Michelle Picard whipped a pass to Pucci at the point, and the senior buried a one-timer in the net.

Pucci had also added an assist fifteen minutes into the second period by finding sophomore forward Sydney Daniels on the counter attack. In turn, Daniels pushed the puck ahead to senior forward Sami Reber, who slid a one-on-one finish past the Raiders’ goalie.

Meanwhile, the Crimson’s back line held strong throughout the evening. Sophomore goalie Brianna Liang made 20 saves en route to her second shutout of the season, adding another win to her spotless 13-0-0 record this season in net.

“The goaltending was key,” Pucci said. “[Brianna] stepped up, and that’s all you can ask from a goaltender.”

The imbalance of the second period reflected the lopsided nature of a game in which the Crimson more than doubled Colgate’s shot output. Harvard finished with 41 attempts while the Raiders recorded 20.

The on-ice disparity reflected an on-paper gap between the two teams. While Harvard is three points out of first place in the ECAC, the Raiders are second-to-last with just four points for their season.

Even in the first period, when Colgate held the hosts scoreless, the Crimson applied significant offensive pressure. However, despite building a 13-8 shot advantage, the hosts could not find the back of the net.

“We started off a bit slow,” Pucci said. “It was a bit sloppy all around in the first period. But as the game went on, our lines started to gel more, and defensively, we tried to do a better job of being a bit crisper.”

The second frame certainly looked crisper, as Harvard produced 11 shots and three goals. The scoring total could have been four, but seven minutes into the period, the Raiders’ goalie smothered a breakaway chance for junior forward Miye D’Oench.

The victory extended the Crimson’s perfect 8-0-0 record at home this season. Harvard has not lost or tied at Bright-Landry since February of 2014, when the home team dropped a double-overtime loss to Yale in game one of the ECAC quarterfinals—the first of a three-game series the Crimson would come back to win.

“It’s such a goal to keep getting better every practice, every game,” Pucci said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to progress as a whole unit.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@college.harvard.edu.