Women's Hockey Takes Down Yale, 3-1

Less than 24 hours after beating Brown, the No. 6/6 Harvard women’s ice hockey team continued to climb the ECAC standings Saturday, picking up its fifth consecutive conference win.

Despite trailing early against rival Yale (7-7-1, 4-4-0 ECAC), the Crimson (8-2-2, 7-1-1) came back to defeat the Bulldogs, 3-1, at Ingalls Rink to close out a successful road trip.

"We got ready obviously for Friday first," junior forward Miye D’Oench said. "But [we were also] thinking about Yale and what we could do to put ourselves in the best position to win both games."

The second time Harvard took the ice this weekend, it met a Bulldog team eager to make a statement quickly. This statement came less than five minutes into the game when sophomore forward Krista Yip-Chuck sent the puck into the back of the net to give Yale an early edge.

The Bulldogs kept this lead for most of the first period, only to find themselves down, 2-1, as the first period whistle blew. These Harvard goals came from freshman forward Lexie Laing and sophomore forward Sydney Daniels.

Laing’s equalizer came in the final minute of the frame, giving the rookie her seventh point of the season. But a mere 25 seconds later, Daniels turned the Crimson’s sigh of relief into a full-on cheer, putting Harvard ahead with another goal.

This goal marked Daniels’ third of the weekend and eighth of her sophomore season, matching her total from her rookie year.

“We’ve scored first; other teams have scored first,” Harvard coach Katie Stone said. “You’ve got to be resilient, you’ve got to bounce back. There’s still a lot of hockey to play and you’ve got to stick to your game plan and just chip away at it. Then usually good things come your way."

That scoreline would stand for much of the game, as the next goal did not come until midway through the third period.

Determined to break the scoring drought that had set in during the middle frame, the Crimson solidified its lead seven minutes into the period. After a string of passes found her in front of the net, senior defender Marissa Gedman put the game away.

Showcasing its depth, Harvard had four different skaters record assists in addition to the three goal-scorers.

In the first period, junior forward Mary Parker’s sixth assist of the season found her former high school teammate Laing, while the other helper came from Arizona native, senior forward Lyndsey Fry.

Tri-captain forward Samantha Reber and D'Oench were both awarded points for assisting Gedman in the final frame, bringing their point totals to 11 and 14 respectively.

"It makes our team more whole when everyone's working together," D'Oench said. "It's a long season, and you can't rely on one player."

In contrast to the dramatics of the opening period, both teams went scoreless the next time they stepped on the ice. But the game became more physical. While the first twenty minutes saw no penalties, each team received three in the second. Harvard held the Bulldogs zero-for-four on power plays on the night, but failed to capitalize on its own opportunities as well, going zero-for-three.

"It's always difficult when you're playing a man down or a man up," D'Oench said. "Either way, we adjusted well and did what we needed to do."

Helping to stop Yale’s opportunities on the man advantage was junior goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer. The All-American netminder played a full 60 minutes for Harvard, making 23 saves on the night.

Stone attributed the depth of her team to good recruiting and the team's internal competition.

“It’s a Division I hockey program, and you want to have internal competition,” Stone said. “It’s good for everybody, and it's paying dividends for our team.”

Harvard came into the contest having beaten Brown, 6-1, the night before. On its last conference road trip back in November, the Crimson had been struggling to prove itself as a competitor in the ECAC and on the national stage, picking up a loss and a tie to St. Lawrence and Clarkson respectively.

But even now as its record and statistics improve, the Crimson remains focused only on improving itself.

“The number one goal is to just keep getting better, individually and collectively,” Stone said. “[That means] taking more ownership, stepping up, [and] playing to their capabilities. We’ve asked each kid what they can bring every day, and that’s what we expect from them.”

—Staff writer Isabel DeLaura can be reached at idelaura@college.harvard.edu.