Botterill Wins Beanpot in OT for Third Year in a Row

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.--Junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill once again is Harvard's overtime savior.

Last night, for the third Beanpot Tournament in a row, Botterill scored in sudden-death overtime to propel the No. 6 Crimson (16-7-0, 15-3-0 ECAC) over No. 9 Northeastern (13-11-1, 10-7-1) to win the prestigious crown.

The 2000-01 Harvard women's hockey team is now the first in school history to win a third consecutive title.

"This is a big game--it means a lot to anyone in Boston," said Harvard Coach Katey Stone. "We've had the trophy for two years, and we didn't want to give it back. There's a lot of pride involved in that."

The game-winning goal came 6:35 into overtime. Botterill turned a fortuitous bounce of the puck into a clean breakaway from half-ice and beat Northeastern goalie Erica Silva for the game-winner.

"We're fortunate to have big game players--Bots, Tammy, Kalen, and Kiirsten--all these kids came to play today," Stone said. "Botterill was in the right spot at the right time and she knows how to finish. That's just a great testament to her feel for the game."

Harvard's pulled out the overtime win under adverse circumstances. The Crimson trailed 3-1 at the second period intermission, yet ultimately proved itself to be the superior team in every respect.

"We came out with heart and hustled," Botterill said. "We knew that we could come back. We never stopped believing. We pulled together. You could see it in the third that we were just flying. We knew we could come away with a victory if we really put our hearts into it."

The comeback began 4:48 into the third period on the power play. Sophomore defender Pamela Van Reesema, after having a shot blocked, regained control and found senior winger Tammy Shewchuk open to the left of the net. Shewchuk slipped the puck across the slot where Botterill drilled it home to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Just 1:34 later Harvard tied the game. Sophomore defender Jaime Hagerman set senior winger Kiirsten Suurkask on a breakaway with a nifty pass off the boards. Suurkask had been stopped earlier on a breakaway, but on this occasion, she lifted the puck over Silva's shoulder. It was Suurkask's first goal in 17 games.

"It's nice to see Kiirsten Suurkask get a goal, because she's one of the hardest working people out there," Shewchuk said. "Especially on the second breakaway--she can miss once, but she won't miss twice. The second line is just playing wonderful, I think it's a rarity that people actually notice it."

For the entire third period and the overtime, the Crimson dominated play. Harvard outshot Northeastern 21-9 over the stretch and had plenty of chances to win before the eventual game-winner.

"We've been in that position [of trailing] before, and we knew we could handle it," Stone said. "We didn't doubt our ability to come back. We were looking for some heady play, quick shifts, and not trying to stay out there too long and do too much. Our conditioning clearly made a difference in the game."

According to Stone, the players on the Crimson third line--freshmen Mina Pell, Lauren McAuliffe and junior Vanessa Bazzochi were the unsung heroes of the victory.

"The players on the third line were the best on the ice for the first two periods of the game," Stone said. "That was the difference. They allowed our first two lines to keep their legs into the third period."

Sophomore winger Kalen Ingram put Harvard on the board first, with 1:40 left in the opening period. Straight off the faceoff from Botterill, Ingram snapped the puck inside the right post before Silva could react. It was her 14th goal of the season.

Harvard lost the lead in the second period as Northeastern got on the board with a shorthanded goal. Defender Erica Archambeau skated through the Crimson defense and broke in on Harvard freshman goaltender Jessica Ruddock. She stopped the initial shot, but the rebound bounced high in the air and winger Betsy Dyke was able to control it and tie the game.

"We played some very careless defense, and it cost us," Stone said. "And we weren't as well off offensively as we needed to be. We gave up some easy ones just because there were some defensive lapses."

The next two Huskie goals came in quick succession, 16:45 and 19:46 into the second period. The first came from second-line center Colleen Coen, who drilled the puck home on a behind-the-net pass from winger Jennifer Santorre.

On the final Northeastern goal, Ruddock coughed up a rebound that deflected right back to the Huskie's Kim Greene. Wasting no time, Greene sent the puck back through the five-hole to give Northeastern a two-goal lead.

"Ruddock's a freshman and you're going to see glimpses of that now and then, but she battled and came up big when she needed to," Stone said. "She's learning, and this is the biggest game she's played in as a freshman at Harvard."

The Crimson had every reason to believe it was capable of coming back from the two-goal deficit. It had pulled off such feats before.

"You draw from the last game, you draw from last year," Shewchuk said. "Every game presents a different challenge. It's not just that we can come back against Northeastern, we can come back against Dartmouth, Minnesota-Duluth--anyone."

The third consecutive victory has solidly confirmed Harvard as the class of the city. Northeastern has dominated the tournament historically, winning 14 of 23 titles. The Crimson has now won seven. Harvard is 6-0-1 in its last seven against Huskies after going 0-9 against the team from 1996-98.

"Northeastern is a great team and they've had a hold on the Beanpot for a long time, so I'm very proud now that we've continued to dominate the Beanpot for the last three years," Stone said.

The victory in the Beanpot was crucial for a team that has been missing co-captain Angie Francisco due to illness for the past two weekends. Harvard needed a big confidence boost going into its top-of-the-ECAC showdown with No. 1 Dartmouth this Saturday.

"For us to win a game of this magnitude is huge," Stone said. "It makes these kids understand that no matter what the situation, we're going to adjust and figure out a way to win."