Women's Ice Hockey Scores a Win and a Tie Over the Weekend

The Harvard women’s ice hockey team notched a pair of season firsts at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center this weekend.

The No. 8/7 Crimson (1-1-1, 1-1-1 ECAC) opened its two-game home set on Friday with a scoreless draw against No. 4/4 Clarkson to earn its first conference point of the season, then notched its first win with a 3-2 victory over St. Lawrence on Saturday.

HARVARD 3, ST. LAWRENCE 2

Senior forward Miye D’Oench scored twice, sophomore forward Haley Mullins tossed in the late game-winner, and Harvard overcame a late equalizer from St. Lawrence (4-6-1, 1-1-0) to beat the Saints.

With the game knotted at two, Mullins ripped a go-ahead shot past freshman SLU goaltender Sonjia Shelly with 1:34 left in the third period. The goal was Mullins’ first of the season, a year removed from her 11-point freshman campaign.

Right from the puck drop, however, St. Lawrence had the quicker step, scoring two-and-a-half minutes into the game off a faceoff win and a shot that beat junior goaltender Brianna Laing stick-side.

Laing made her first start this season for the Crimson and recorded 28 saves.

St. Lawrence went on to outshoot Harvard, 15-5, during the opening period, and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

“We didn’t get the puck deep enough to give us a little momentum or allow our defensemen to make smart changes,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “We were back on our heels the entire twenty minutes and part of the second period as well.”

A bizarre protocol violation against Harvard transformed a would-be carryover power play into a 4-on-4 to open the second frame. The script for the ensuing SLU power play was flipped, though, when D’Oench scored shorthanded to tie the game at one.

“[Junior forward Sydney Daniels] was picking up the puck on the wall,” D’Oench said. “I just took off, hoping to either get a breakaway or at least win the race and burn a little more time. She ended up shooting it right at me, so I just caught it, put it down, and deked the goaltender.”

D’Oench scored again on the power play with 3.2 seconds on the second period clock, giving Harvard a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

The Saints tied the game late in the third period on senior forward Jenna Marks’ first score of the season, but the tied game was short-lived, as Mullins scored the game-winner soon thereafter.

HARVARD 0, CLARKSON 0

Crimson junior goaltender Molly Tissenbaum recorded 23 saves en route to her first career shutout, but Harvard’s offense couldn’t convert on six power plays as the ECAC rivals fought to a scoreless tie.

Clarkson (9-0-2, 0-0-2), the 2014 NCAA national champion, outscored its first nine opponents this season by a combined margin of 36-12. On Friday, the Golden Knights failed to win for the first time following a perfect 9-0 start.

The game also featured 12 penalties, seven of which came in the third period, though neither side was able to take advantage of the ensuing power plays.

“Penalties are going to happen,” Stone said. “We’re getting better at our kill, but it’s a work in progress. We have to just stay out of the box—that’s the best penalty kill.”

Making her first start in goal this season, Tissenbaum brought her career save percentage up to .954 with the shutout performance.

Tissenbaum’s counterpart, Clarkson sophomore goaltender Shea Tiley, recorded an identical 23 saves. Tiley was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week earlier this season.

The best opportunity for the Crimson to score came late in the overtime period after a Harvard shot barely slipped through Tiley’s leg pads. The puck came to a stop before reaching the goal, and Crimson freshman forward Grace Zarzecki’s attempt to poke it in hit off the post. A last second try by senior defenseman Michelle Picard was blocked.

In the teams’ last meeting, Clarkson captured a share of the ECAC Hockey regular season title with a 1-0 win in the final game of the regular season, but the Golden Knights could not break through on Friday, likewise going 0-for-4 on the power play.