No. 3 Women's Hockey Stymies No. 10 Providence

About 48 hours after co-captain defenseman Angela Ruggiero beat No. 8 New Hampshire with a game-winning goal in the third period, she dealt the exact same fate to No. 10 Providence in another Top-10 women’s hockey match-up last night.

With 7:42 remaining in the game and the teams deadlocked at one goal apiece, the captain sailed a slap-shot past Friar goalie Jana Bugden to lift No. 3 Harvard (8-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC) to a 2-1 victory at Bright Hockey Center.

The win was Harvard’s second victory this season over a physical Providence squad (4-4-2). Harvard has never before started the season with eight wins in a row.

The contest concluded with the same final score as Sunday’s game against UNH, and yesterday’s ending was a near carbon copy of Harvard’s earlier victory—a coincidence duly noted by Ruggiero’s fellow teammates.

“Angela’s a clutch player,” said sophomore center Julie Chu. “She’s a threat to every team. And not just because you have to wait for the shot, but because she has the ability to find the open person and give them a great scoring chance.”

Chu herself had notched the first goal of the game in the second period on a behind-the-net assist from junior winger Nicole Corriero.

“Nicole gave me a great pass,” Chu said. “It was a testament to the whole line, the whole team, pounding away—not getting too frantic about not scoring in the first period, but then bearing down when it counted.”

On the other end of the ice, the Crimson relied upon another stellar performance from undefeated sophomore goalie Ali Boe, who recorded 15 crucial saves in the contest.

Astonishingly, the lone goal Boe allowed—a shorthanded score to tie the game 1-1—was only the second puck she had allowed to cross the goal line all year.

“It was one of those plays when they were transitioning,” Ruggiero said of the goal. “Nicole [Corriero] and I sort of ran into each other, the puck squirted loose and [Kelli Halcisak] just brought it. When you’re killing a penalty, that first forecheck is really aggressive, and that’s what happened tonight.”

The Harvard penalty kill successfully negated a dangerous five-on-three Providence advantage after consecutive penalties on junior defenseman Ashley Banfield and Ruggiero, but the Crimson’s players still feel that there is room for improvement.

“A couple of times we left our goalie hanging out to dry,” Chu said. “We just want to make sure that we have a solid defensive zone and from there the offense will take care of itself.”

Coach Katey Stone, though, recognized a new team attitude in the Crimson’s eighth straight win to begin the season.

“When they scored that goal, we just kept after them,” Stone said. “The feeling on the bench wasn’t ‘are we going to score,’ but ‘when are we going to score.’ And we were one goal better and that’s all we need to be.”

The team will face ECAC foes Cornell and Colgate at home this weekend. But first, what the team needs most is rest.

“We’ve had a really long week and a half,” Stone said. “We’ve had some really tough games and the kids have done well. We’ll just loosen up Thursday and tweak a few things strategically, and then we’ll be ready to go on Friday night.”