W. Hockey Loses Two Key Home Games

After trouncing Boston University 5-0 on Tuesday, the No. 9 Harvard women’s hockey team had a disappointing weekend at Bright Hockey Center, losing 3-1 to Northeastern on Friday night and 4-2 to Niagara on Sunday

The No. 4 Northeastern Huskies (13-1-0, 9-1-0 ECAC-E), came out fast and furious on Friday night, capitlizing on a sometimes shaky Crimson (5-6-1, 3-1-1 ECAC-N) to win.

The No. 8 Niagara Puple Eagles (12-4-0, 9-2-0 ECAC-E), who dropped a 4-2 decisionto the Crimson at home last weekend, took advantage of Harvard’s mental lapses.

NORTHEASTERN 3, HARVARD 1

The Huskies—the Crimson’s chief cross-town nemesis—were out for revenge after losing to Harvard three in the last three Beanpots in overtime.

“It’s pretty important, bragging rights in Boston,” said Harvard junior defenseman Pamela Van Reesema. “They don’t really like us, and we don’t really like them.”

Though Harvard outshot Northeastern 24-18, the Crimson failed to capitalize on several crucial opportunities, and defensive breakdowns allowed the Huskies to walk away with the win.

Midway through the first, freshman winger Nicole Corriero failed to score on a breakaway, and senior forward Vanessa Bazzochi fanned on a wide-open shot in front of the net just minutes later.

Then at 14:38 of the second, freshman forward Kat Sweet took an ill-timed boarding penalty as Corriero received the puck on her stick right in front of the the Northeastern goal.

The Huskies opened the scoring when a Crimson defender lost the puck in her skates. Huskies left winger Bekka Lass picked up the puck and came in alone, beating Jessica Ruddock to take a 1-0 lead.

Defenseman Erica Archembeau was credited with the assist.

“We’ve been having some trouble breaking the puck out,” Van Reesema said. “It’s part of the game we need to work on—we’re nowhere near where we want to be.”

The Crimson tied the game on a power play opportunity early in the second period. Junior defenseman and captain Jamie Hagerman sent a long pass through the neutral zone in the direction of Corriero. Corriero couldn’t handle the pass, but the Huskies failed to clear the puck.

Junior left winger Tracy Catlin recovered the puck and sent it to the goal-minded Corriero. Corriero took a weak shot on goal that somehow managed to trickle past Northeastern goaltender Chanda Gunn.

With 12 seconds left in the period, the Huskies made the Harvard intermission all the more frustrating.

With Van Reesema in the box for slashing, the Crimson defense failed to clear the puck in a scramble in front of the net, and Huskies right winger Julianne Socha poked it in. Center Brooke Whitney and winger Brooke White were credited with the assists.

“We got ourselves in trouble in the defensive zone,” said Harvard Coach Katie Stone. “We killed the first penalty [to Kat Sweet in the second period] beautifully. It’s a bummer they got that goal on the power play.”

Hagerman agreed.

“Sometimes we don’t really react as well as we should to their pressure,” Hagerman said. “We got caught not moving our feet. When you have a team that generates some good forechecking, it’s hard to counter-attack that once they start getting the momentum on top of you. It’s hard to regain your composure when the puck keeps getting thrown back down your throats.”

Harvard dominated the third period, outshooting Northeastern 10-4. The Crimson went on a two-man advantage for 25 seconds midway through the period when defenseman Pamela Pachal and winger Michelle Lorion were penalized for tripping and cross checking, respectively. Despite relentless pressure, the Crimson failed to put the puck in the net.

With 2:27 left to play, the Huskies took the wind from Harvard’s sails when another defensive breakdown led to a Huskie goal by center Lindsay Ball. Center Lori DiGiacomo and Lorion assisted the goal.

Harvard nevertheless kept the pressure on.

Corriero broke in alone on goal but failed to score.

Harvard went on a two man advantage when Northeastern defenseman Kim Greebe was called for high sticking with 40 seconds remaining in the game and Harvard coach Katie Stone elected to pull Ruddock. The Crimson nearly scored in those final seconds, but when the smoke cleared, Gunn had held firm.

Stone was nonetheless pleased with her team’s performance.

“Some of our kids had their best games today,” Stone said.

Stone mentioned Corriero specifically.

“You can score four goals and play average,” she said, referring to Corriero. “[Nicole] played as hard as she could for 60 minutes.”

Despite great individual efforts, the mistakes in the defensive zone proved more decisive.

“It’s gonna be up to us,” Stone said. “If all our pistons are firing, we’re gonna be able to win. We’re working on firing all all of our pistons.”

NIAGARA 4, HARVARD 2

Harvard fired 29 shots to Niagara’s 20, but defensive mistakes were once again the Crimson’s downfall.

“We should have won this game,” Catlin said. “We ouplayed them and we outshot them.”

Stone concurred.

“We made stupid mistakes,” Stone said. “We didn’t capitalize on our oppurtunties, we didn’t bury the puck. We had very good looks at the net, we were very aggressive offensively, we had a lot going and then all of a sudden we forgot to play defense.”

The Purple Eagles struck first, a mere six minutes into the game, when freshman left winger Teresa Del Monte sent a pass to junior right winger Valerie Hall, who broke in on goal. Hall’s shot was stopped by Ruddock, but senior center Brooke Bradburn buried the rebound.

Harvard responded a few minutes later, when Bradburn was sent to the box for high sticking. Corriero recieved a cross-ice pass from Hagerman, dipsy-doodled around a defender and sent a pass across the Niagara zone to junior center Kalen Ingram.

Ingram sent the puck back to a net-bound Corriero, who whistled a shot from just outside the hash marks past senior Purple Eagles goalie Tania Pinelli.

The goal was Corriero’s ECAC-leading 15th of the season. Ingram was credited with her 13th assist.

The Crimson took its only lead early in the second period.. The teams played four-on-four hockey for most of the first minute, then Harvard was a woman-down for the next 20 seconds.

With confusion ensuing when Van Reesema left the box, Ingram picked up the puck in the neutral zone and passed to sophomore center Lauren McAuliffe, who fired the puck up to Catlin. Catlin crossed the blue line on her own and took a long, hard shot that was partially blocked by Pirelli, but then trickled in behind the Niagara goalie.

The final minute of the second period was once again disastrous for the Crimson.

An onrushing Bradburn centered the puck to the incoming Del Monte who sent the puck through Ruddock’s legs and into the goal with only 30 seconds on the clock.

Bolstered by the goal, the Purple Eagles stormed back onto the ice and took the lead less than a minute into the final period.

Niagara sophomore center Lindsay Vine took a long shot from the point and encroaching freshman defenseman Ann McClelan scored off the rebound.

The next 12 miuntes of the period saw several Harvard oppurtnities but no scoring.

Niagara extended its lead with four miuntes remaining as Del Monte passed to Bradburn, who deked by a fallen Crimson defender and beat Ruddock top shelf on a mid-range shot from the left side.

Mina Pell’s presence on the first line , along with Ingram and Corriero was, the most notieable positive of the weekend.

“She’s earned it,” Stone said. “If she keeps playing like she’s playing, she’ll stay there.”

Pell is one the team’s quickest skaters and has a knack for the net. She has adjusted well to the line change.

“It’s just whatever works, trying to switch things around to see how effective we can be,” Pell said. “You got to go out there with anyone and make it work, hustle for any line you’re on, make any line you’re on look good.”

Despite strong performances from Pell, Ingram, Catlin and Corriero, the mental mistakes were troubling.

“It’s the product of a young team,” Stone said. “But we’ve gotta lot of games under our belt now and we need to fish or cut bait here. We need to figure out what kind of team we are.”