Women's Hockey Splits Weekend Series

In its last regular season weekend of the 2015-2016 school year, the Harvard women’s hockey team embarked on a trip to New York with hopes of solidifying a spot among the top ECAC teams in playoff contention. Yet after two 3-2 decisions, one that favored the Crimson and one that did not, the team will head on the road to Colgate next weekend as the visiting team in ECAC playoffs.

CORNELL 3, HARVARD 2 (OT)

The capstone game of the regular season came in the form of a disappointing decision in Ithaca. Harvard (16-10-3, 12-7-3 ECAC) entered the face off as the favorite, ranked among the top five in the conference while Cornell (13-12-4, 9-9-4) held down the eighth spot. After playing just over 60 minutes of hockey, the tables had turned on the Crimson, leaving the team with a loss.

“We went into the weekend wanting to come out with two wins,” freshman defender Kate Hallett said. “That being said, we went out there are we really did play to the best of our abilities. We really worked hard... sometimes that’s hockey and you don’t come out with the win.”

It took some time for Harvard’s offense to get off the ground and convert drives on the ice. The Big Red took an early lead in the first 10 minutes of play with a power play goal at the 8:36 mark of the first period.

Cornell had the man-advantage after sophomore forward Karly Heffernan was sent to the penalty box for tripping, giving Cornell senior forward Taylor Woods the opportunity to sneak the puck past goalkeeper Emerance Maschmeyer.

Despite having seven fewer shots on goal than the Crimson, the Big Red was able to capitalize on defensive mistakes made by Harvard’s offense.

Down 2-0 entering the second period, junior forward Sydney Daniels awoke Harvard’s offense with her 17th and 18th goals of the season, pushing the game into a tie at the end of regulation.

Cornell responded almost immediately into the overtime period, scoring a goal within the first minute of play and sealing the Crimson’s fate for its playoff run.

“[The goal] was heartbreaking,” Ziadie said. “They came back really quickly and scored and the momentum totally shifted from all the positivity that we had built up in the second period and the losing in that moment was really really hard for us.”

HARVARD 3, NO. 10/10 COLGATE 2

Both teams came into Friday evening’s match up fighting for fourth place in the ECAC standings, with the Crimson two points behind the Raiders. Colgate (20-7-7, 12-5-5) also entered ranked at No.10/10 in the nation, giving Harvard its first victory against a ranked opponent in the month of February.

The Crimson was able to jump out of the gate early against the Raiders, finding the back of its opponent’s net twice in the opening 20 minutes of play.

“It’s really important [to be aggressive early in the game],” Ziadie said. “Against Colgate we came out flying in the first period and that’s something we didn’t necessarily do against Cornell…. For that whole 60 minutes we were all over them and that made a huge difference.”

Senior forward Miye D’Oench got the scoring going for Harvard with her 14th goal of the season, getting help from Heffernan and senior co-captain Michelle Picard. Daniels netted a power play goal at the end of the first to give the Crimson a two goal advantage.

The Big Red came rolling back in the second period, scoring two goals to tie the game at two. Sophomore forward Annika Zalewski had both of the Raider goals, beating Maschmeyer twice.

The winning goal came from the stick of freshman Grace Zarzecki, who has made a reputation for herself this early in her career. Currently, she is the team’s third most productive scorer, with nine goals on the season.

“It’s huge to have contributions from all years because it shows the depth of the team,” Hallett said. “It shows that at the end of the day we are all one team. At this point in the year we freshmen have gotten used to it... We know what’s expected of us.”

—Staff writer Ariel Smolik-Valles can be reached at ariel.smolik-valles@thecrimson.com