Women's Hockey Ends Season With Pair of Home Defeats

There were no answers on Saturday afternoon for the Harvard women's hockey team.

Coming into the last weekend of the season, the Crimson had not defeated a varsity team since February 4, a streak of five consecutive losses.

Make that six. In a 4-3 loss to St. Lawrence, Harvard's inconsistent play doomed it to defeat, as the home team fell behind, battled back and blew the game.

The first 10 minutes saw the Saints (6-13-2, 2-11-2 ECAC) take a quick 2-0 lead over the Crimson (9-17-1, 3-12-1).

Neither score was particularly beautiful--on the first, Saint Andrea Blakeley faked out a couple defenders and took a weak mid-range shot that somehow got past sophomore goaltender Jen Bowdoin. On the second goal, a loose puck that Bowdoin tried to smother squirted into the net.

It was a ragged start for Harvard and anything but for St. Lawrence.

"We can hurt ourselves if we're not sharp, and we have to be sharp," Harvard coach Katey Stone said. "We've got the kind of team where everybody's got to be ready to go, and all the pistols have to be firing in the same direction."

But then the Crimson defense began to run like it was on Castrol, essentially shutting down the Saint attack until the third period. The offense soon followed suit.

With only 1:39 to go in the first period, juniors A.J. Mleczko and Christa Calagione directed the puck towards the right side of the Saint net, giving senior Stacy Kellogg an opportunity to shove it in, cutting the deficit to one and giving Harvard a momentum boost into the intermission.

As a result, the second period was all Harvard, with the Crimson out-shooting its opponent 16-7 and outscoring it 2-0.

"I think we kind of came out a little more fired up," Mleczko said. "Those were kind of fluky goals, and the score really shouldn't even have been 2-1."

It did take 15 minutes for Harvard to tie up the game. On a power play caused by a roughing penalty on Saint Rhonda Mitchell, freshman Alice DuBois broke away from the defense after St. Lawrence cleared the puck. Her shot cleared the right shoulder of goaltender Taryn MacLiver.

The second came with only 38 ticks left on the period's clock on a wrap-around shot by Mleczko again over MacLiver's right shoulder.

However, that was the last time Harvard scored on the day.

"In the second period, we were as big as life," Stone said. "In the third period, we looked like there was a little weakness here, a little weakness there, a little lack of explosiveness and hesitation--we can't afford to do that."

The Harvard attack was still running pretty well, thanks to a bunch of St. Lawrence penalties--the Saints had six on the day. But no matter how many pucks floated across the crease, none got past MacLiver.

The other end of the rink was a different story. The Harvard defensemen allowed far too many two-on-one situations, one of which turned into a goal. At the 7:25 mark, St. Lawrence's Julie Barnett took a slapshot at Bowdoin, which bounced off her chest and fell between her legs.

It didn't get any better for Harvard. Five minutes later, another rebound goal recaptured the lead for the Saints. ST. LAWRENCE, 4-3 at Bright Hockey Center St. Lawrence  2  0  2  --  4 Harvard  1  2  0  --  3

First Period

SLU--Blakeley (Selzer) 2:40.

SLU--Barnett (Selzer, Blakeley) 8:15.

Har--Kellogg (Calagione, Mleczko) 18:21.

Second Period

Har--DuBois (Calagione, Walker) 15:20. (PPG)

Har--Mleczko (Kellogg) 19:22. (PPG)

Third Period

SLU--Barnett (Kotary) 7:25.

SLU--Bard (Blakeley, Mitchell) 12:17.

Saves: SLU--MacLiver 12-16-13 41; Har--Bowdoin 14-7-11 32.

Power Play: SLU 0/3; Har 2/7.

Attendance: 205

First Period

SLU--Blakeley (Selzer) 2:40.

SLU--Barnett (Selzer, Blakeley) 8:15.

Har--Kellogg (Calagione, Mleczko) 18:21.

Second Period

Har--DuBois (Calagione, Walker) 15:20. (PPG)

Har--Mleczko (Kellogg) 19:22. (PPG)

Third Period

SLU--Barnett (Kotary) 7:25.

SLU--Bard (Blakeley, Mitchell) 12:17.

Saves: SLU--MacLiver 12-16-13 41; Har--Bowdoin 14-7-11 32.

Power Play: SLU 0/3; Har 2/7.

Attendance: 205