W. Hockey Outclasses UConn in Third Period

Connecticut put up a good fight but could not withstand the relentless pressure of the Harvard women’s hockey team, which won last night’s nonconference battle 5-1 at the Bright Hockey Center.

The No. 2 Crimson (6-1, 4-0 ECAC) led only 2-0 after two periods before putting the Huskies (5-7, 1-1 Hockey East) away with three unanswered goals in the third.

Freshman phenom Julie Chu scored twice for the Crimson, including a shorthanded tally to extend the lead to 5-0. While killing a penalty midway through the third, junior defenseman and captain Angela Ruggiero skated end to end and fired a shot right on. Chu banged home the rebound for her second goal of the night and seventh of the season.

Seventeen seconds after Chu’s goal, on the same UConn powerplay, Husky sophomore Tiffany Owens broke the Crimson’s perfect 25 for 25 penalty killing streak and finished the scoring for the evening.

“We knew coming in that they’re a tough team,” said freshman winger Jennifer Raimondi.

Raimondi opened the scoring at 6:18 of the first period, beating UConn goaltender Shannon Murphy with a low shot just inside the left post. Defenseman and captain Jamie Hagerman assisted the powerplay score.

Harvard doubled its lead three minutes into the second when Chu took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play to score the prettiest goal of the night.

Hagerman sent a perfect pass to captain Jennifer Botterill to the right of the goal. Botterill kept the puck, forcing Murphy to slide to her left. As Murphy moved over, Botterill passed the puck in front to Chu, who converted into the wide open net.

Murphy was spectacular through two periods, stopping 40 of 42 shots.

“We never expect to score easily,” Chu said.

The Crimson found chinks in Murphy’s hide in the third period.

Only nine seconds into the period, Botterill sent the puck to sophomore winger Nicole Corriero, who slid it past a diving Murphy to give Harvard a 3-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Botterill scored on the reverse of that play—a second-effort backhander after a feed from Corriero.

Murphy was human in the third period, allowing three goals on 10 shots.

Overall, the Crimson outshot the Huskies 52-14.

Despite this glaring discrepancy, Harvard did not defeat UConn as easily as Cornell and Colgate this weekend.

“Conneticut did a really nice job,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone. “They played really physical and clogged up the middle.”

UConn’s solid performance should be good preparation for this Sunday’s matchup at No. 7 Brown, likely the toughest ECAC game the Crimson will play until February.

“From the goaltender all the way up, Brown’s good,” Stone said. “We have to clean our game up a little bit.”

Against Brown, the Crimson will again be without center and captain Kalen Ingram, still suffering from a broken thumb.

“She’s doing everything for us but playing hockey,” Stone said.

—Staff writer David A. Weinfeld can be reached at weinfeld@fas.harvard.edu.