Women's Ice Hockey Advances to NCAA Championship Game With Win Over Boston College

UPDATED: March 21, 2015, at 1:12 a.m.

MINNEAPOLIS—It took two goal-line reviews, nine minutes of penalty killing, and 43 saves, but at the end of Friday night’s Frozen Four semifinal against No. 1/2 Boston College, the No. 4/4 Harvard women’s ice hockey team stood alone on the ice.

The players raised their sticks in unison, hugged each other, and then walked into the locker room in a single file, passing beneath a cheering section of Crimson fans.

Harvard (27-5-3, 16-4-2 ECAC), the same squad that lost 10-2 to the Eagles (34-3-2, 21-0-1 Hockey East) earlier this season, exited Ridder Arena as a 2-1 victor over its crosstown foes. The Crimson will return on Sunday afternoon for a national championship matchup against Minnesota, which beat fourth-seeded Wisconsin, 3-1, on the other side of the four-team bracket.

“What a hockey game,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “I’m so proud of our kids for how hard and smart they played together. We weathered a tremendous storm at the end.”

On a night of heroic performances, Crimson junior goalie Emerance Maschmeyer distinguished herself as the game-saver, stopping three shots in the final minute. This sequence included a goalmouth scrum with 19 seconds left that required Maschmeyer to fall to the bottom of the pile to make a save.

Boston College forward Emily Field (bottom left, in white) had the Eagles' only goal against the Crimson. NCAA Division I scoring leader Alex Carpenter had nine shots for Boston College, and fellow forward Halley Skarupa had 10, but neither could get the puck past Harvard goalie Emerance Maschmeyer. By Sam Danello

However, the defense of Maschmeyer would not have mattered without the offense of senior forward Kalley Armstrong and junior forward Mary Parker, who provided Harvard’s two scores.

Six minutes into the third period, Armstrong put the Crimson on the board with a squib of a shot that squirted beneath freshman net-minder Katie Burt, owner of the lowest goals allowed average in the nation.

“I just tried to throw some junk on the net,” Armstrong said. “I had no idea it went in…. It was a lucky, lucky bounce, and I was fortunate enough to put that away.”

If Armstrong’s score came as a surprise, then Parker’s shorthanded finish arrived after a painstaking period of anticipation. With seven minutes left in the final frame, senior defender Sarah Edney collected the puck after a faceoff in her defensive zone and pushed a shot on net. Then, with the BC defense collapsing around the crease, Parker crashed the net to put away the rebound.

Goal-line judges deliberated for several minutes, which left Harvard waiting in limbo by the team bench. But when the decision came, the team and the nearby Crimson section erupted in cheers.

The review was the second time that a debated call went the Crimson’s way. Just a minute and a half into the game, the Eagles appeared to have taken the lead on a point-blank finish from sophomore forward Kristyn Capizzano, but a review from on high reversed the call.

But the officials did not always side with the Crimson’s case. Harvard faced nine minutes of penalty time throughout the match, including a five-minute whistle on Crimson junior winger Miye D’Oench for a check from behind.

The call ejected D’Oench from the game and sent Harvard scrambling on the penalty kill. Maschmeyer recorded seven stops in the period, including an acrobatic glove save with four minutes left.

“A five-minute penalty…[is] a long penalty,” Maschmeyer said. “For me, my mindset is that it’s one shot at a time, [so] don’t think ahead. Obviously a lot can happen in five minutes.”

The Crimson received some additional help from the right post, which rejected a try from the right side in the final two minutes of the kill.

Yet neither player nor post could block BC’s first goal, which arrived with less than five minutes to play in regulation.  At the end of an offensive set for the Eagles, a rebound slid toward senior forward Emily Field, who one-timed the puck into the top corner to trim the margin to one.

Despite newfound urgency, BC could not find the same open-ice offense that it had employed throughout the game, particularly in the second period. In that frame, play opened up into a series of counterattacks, and the Eagles pinged shot after shot, ending the period with a 26-12 advantage in the statistic.

But Harvard held, even launching some mischief of its own. At 4:11, the Crimson had an apparent breakaway opportunity only to stop dead when an official dinged the team for a mistimed substitution.

At the end of the game, though, a call that hurt Harvard led to perhaps the decisive Crimson offensive sequence of the night. With 12:50 left to play, Harvard freshman forward Haley Mullins skated to the bench to serve time for an interference call. Yet, 10 seconds later, Parker and company were skating in the opposite direction—to celebrate a second goal with the team bench on the shorthanded goal.

“We got the job done,” Stone said. “We are thrilled to be playing in the final game of the season, and we’re looking forward to trying to finish the job.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@thecrimson.com.