Botterill, W. Hockey Rallies Late to Beat Friars, Huskies

Facing two of the best defensive teams in the nation, the Harvard women's hockey team broke through late and often, thanks largely to one of its captains.

The No.5 Crimson defeated No. 8 Northeastern 6-3 on Friday night

and rolled over No.10 Providence 7-4 on Saturday night at Bright Hockey

Center.

Junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill recorded a hat trick in each of the games this weekend to spearhead a Harvard attack that used late rallies to overwhelm its opponents.

Against Northeastern (11-6-0, 8-3-0 ECAC) and its stellar goalie

Erika Silva--who made 40 saves in shutting out No.1 Dartmouth two weeks ago--the Crimson (11-6-0, 11-2-0) scored five goals in the third period to blow the game open.

The Huskies were ranked No. 5 in the country at the time.

Against Providence (12-5-2, 7-4-2), which leads the ECAC with a 1.64 GAA, Harvard tallied five scores after the halfway mark of the second period. Three of these strikes came against Friar goalie Amy Quinlan, who had been leading the nation with a 0.77 GAA and a .967 save percentage.

The wins preserved the Crimsons hold on the top spot in the ECAC with 22 points, one better than second-place Dartmouth.

Harvard 7, Providence 4

On Saturday night, Providence tried its best to slow down the explosive Harvard offense with its punishing defense.

That strategy worked for the first half of the game. But then the Crimson proved that it takes more than clutching and grabbing to shut down its offense.

Harvard scored five goals against two different Providence goaltenders in just over 30 minutes to defeat the Friars 7-4.

It took the Crimson the first 30 minutes of the game before it found its offensive rhythm. But once it did, Providence had no answer for stopping the Crimson, who enjoyed good games from Botterill (hat trick), as well as forwards Angie Francisco and Kalen Ingram (two goals each).

The Friars led as late as the 2:28 mark of the second period when they held a 3-2 lead. Earlier in the stanza, with the score tied 2-2, Providence had been able to take advantage of Crimson senior defenseman Jamie Notman slipping while trying to get back on defense.

Providence winger Darlene Stephenson and defenseman Melanie Ruzzi turned the defensive lapse into a 2-on-1 on Crimson freshman goaltender Jessica Ruddock.

Ruzzi passed the puck off to Stephenson to shoot the one-timer, but the pass deflected off Harvard sophomore defenseman Kalen Ingram and through the five-hole of Ruddock to give the Friars the 3-2 lead.

But the momentary advantage proved to be Providence's last gasp, as

Botterill then decided to take the game over.

With less than three minutes left in the period, Botterill took a pass from senior forward Tammy Shewchuk and flew down the left side.

Upon reaching the left circle, Botterill--who had already scored the

Crimsons first goal of the game--fired a cannon shot that Providence goaltender Crystal Nicholas appeared to stop, but the puck slid past her and into the net to tie the game at 3-3.

Two minutes later, with Harvard on the power play, Francisco cut across center ice and dropped the puck for the trailing Botterill.

Botterill instantly picked up the puck and fired at Nicholas from center ice.

Nicholas, who was screened by the traffic in front of the net, never saw the puck as it went under her right pad to give Botterill her second hat trick in as many days and Harvard the 4-3 lead at the end of two periods.

Providence tried to close the door on any further Harvard scoring by bringing in freshman goalie Quinlan. But Quinlan, who had been given the night off after losing 2-0 to Brown, fared even worse against the Crimson.

Six minutes into the period, Harvard senior forward Kiirsten

Suurkask cut across the crease and shot high on Quinlan. Quinlan made the save but the rebound went loose in front of the net and bounced right to

Francisco's stick.

Francisco easily shot the puck over the sprawled Quinlan to give Harvard a two-goal lead at 5-3.

"Kiirsten made a great play and the puck took a great bounce," Francisco said. "That was the phattest rebound I've ever seen, and it seemed like I had a day and half to put it in the net."

Later in the period, it was Ingram who joined in the offensive fireworks.

Notman shot at Quinlan and the rebound went in front of the crease. Ingram, who was amid the traffic in front, turned around and fired a wrap-around backhander that went between Quinlan's pads and made the score 6-3.

Providence stopped the bleeding momentarily by responding to

Ingram's goal with a goal 15 seconds later, as Friars winger Jackie Tamsin fired one past Ruddock to bring Providence within two goals at 6-4.

But forty seconds after Tamsin's goal, Ingram added her second of the game when her shot from behind the net went off a defenders skate and past Quinlan to make the score 7-4.

Before Boterill's heroics stole the show and gave Harvard the lead for good at the end of the second period, the story of the game centered around the extremely physical play of Providence.

Friar defenseman Valerie Bono had scored 94 seconds into the game following a Harvard penalty for too many players on the ice. That opening goal served as Providence's cue to begin its defensive assault.

Over the next 20 minutes, Crimson and Friar players exchanged hit after vicious hit attempting to gain control of the game.

"Providence came in here figuring the only way to slow us down was to clutch and grab," Harvard Coach Katey Stone said. "It's not the kind of women's hockey we want to play it looked like it was a men's hockey game with all that physical contact."

For the game, Harvard posted 42 shots on net against 24 for Providence. While the Crimson were 2-for-4 with the man advantage, the Friars went 1-for-3.

Ruddock made 20 saves to record the win for Harvard.

Harvard 6, Northeastern 3

For two periods, Northeastern played the type of outstanding defense that earned the Huskies a shutout of the Big Green two weeks ago.

But then everything fell apart.

The Crimson, led by its special teams unit and by Botterill, exploded for five goals in the third period and blew away the overmatched Huskies 6-3 on Friday night.

"We got some attitude in the third period," Stone said. "When you come up against a tough goaltender like that, I think we broke her down a little bit in the third period."

Senior forward Tara Dunn scored the game-winning goal for the

Crimson with three minutes left in the game.

With the score tied 3-3, Botterill was called for a checking penalty that left Harvard shorthanded. One minute and 40 seconds into the penalty, Francisco found Dunn streaking down the right side for a shorthanded breakaway.

Dunn crashed the net on Silva, who managed to get her left pad on the puck. Silva, however, wasn't able to cover up the puck before it went into the net, giving Harvard a 4-3 lead.

Before then, the Crimson had experienced some trouble overcoming

Silva, as Harvard entered the third period trailing 2-1.

The one-goal deficit was due in large part to the many penalties the Crimson committed in the first two periods. Harvard was called for seven penalties, accruing 14 minutes in the box through the first 40 minutes of play alone.

In fact, Harvard essentially gave Northeastern an eight-minute power play to start the second period when four consecutive penalties were called on the Crimson early in the second frame.

Harvard, though, ultimately responded well to the adversity, scoring two shorthanded goals in the game.

"There were a lot of interesting calls,

but beyond that, we persevered," Stone said. "We were able to capitalize on the penalties that were called against us."

Dunn began the special-teams onslaught ten minutes into the third

period with Harvard on the power play. Dunn deflected a Botterill shot in front of the net and under Silvas pads to tie the game at 2-2.

Two minutes later, Botterill gave the Crimson the lead, again on the man advantage. Botterill, sitting in front of the net, took a pass from sophomore defenseman Pan Van Reesema and one-timed it past a diving Silva to give Harvard the 3-2 lead.

Forty seconds after Dunn scored the Crimsons fourth goal, Botterill once again lit the lamp, this time off a pass from Ingram.

Botterill camped herself on the left side of the goal and waited for the pass, then shot high over the sliding Silva to make the score 5-2.

But even after that tally, Botterill still wasn't done scoring in the period.

After Northeastern scored on a power play of its own and Silva was pulled to give the Huskies an extra attacker, Botterill and the Crimson would strike one more time.

Shewchuk stole the puck and passed to the streaking Botterill, who cut to the right side of the ice and shot into the empty net to record her first of two hat tricks on the weekend.

"It's not so much how many goals you score, but when you score them,"

Shewchuk said. "I think we're really starting to shut the door when we have a lead in the third, really coming out and performing when we have to."

Silva kept the Huskies in the game early, making many good saves and keeping the Crimson off the scoreboard in the first period.

Northeastern forward Brooke Whitney had opened the scoring in the game nine minutes into the first period.

Whitney moved in on Ruddock and pulled her out to the right side. Whitney then cut across, moved to the backhand, and shot into the open net to give the Huskies the 1-0 lead.

"I guess we were a little frustrated with a few of the calls and the way the game went," Botterill said. "But we battled through it and that's out of our control. We just have to keep playing the best we can."

Shewchuk tied the game for the Crimson two minutes into the second

period. Facing the Huskies on the power play, Botterill stole the puck and

found Shewchuk, who had slid behind the Huskies defense.

Shewchuk attacked down the right side, and flew past Silva, who had moved to cut off the angle. Shewchuk shot low under Silva to tie the game at 1-1.

Northeastern regained the lead 90 seconds later, again on the power play, when forward Beth Claggett took the puck and wrapped it around the net and under Ruddock to make the score 2-1.

That would be the Huskies last goal until the final minute of the game.

For the game, Harvard outshot the Huskies 39-24, but the big advantage came in the third period, when the Crimson shot 20 times on net compared to only 10 attempts by Northeastern.

The Crimson went 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Huskies converted on just 2-of-8 opportunities.

Ruddock picked up the win for Harvard after making 21 saves.

Harvard now breaks for exams and will not be back in action until Jan. 27 when it plays in an exhibition game against Concordia. The Crimson's next ECAC game is against UNH on Feb. 3.