Freshmen Play Key Role Against Huskies

CHESTNUT HILL—It wasn't Angela Ruggiero who put the Harvard women’s hockey team up a goal just 96 seconds into the Beanpot championship.

And it wasn’t Nicole Corriero who provided the perfect pass to set up that opening score.

And it wasn’t Lauren McAuliffe who netted a shot with less than 10 minutes remaining to extend the lead to three and seal the victory.

Though the Crimson’s seasoned veterans turned in their own fair share of offensive highlights, it was freshmen Caitlin Cahow and Liza Solley who lit the lamp first, and first-year Jennifer Sifers who pushed the game out of reach.

After winning the opening draw, Harvard wasted little time gaining the Northeastern blueline and setting up shop out in front of Huskies goaltender Chanda Gunn’s net. Drawing sluggish defenders from side to side with crisp puck movement, the Crimson pried open Gunn’s cover, creating an open lane for Cahow.

Solley slid the puck across to her and with little fanfare, Cahow buried it in the bottom right corner of the net for her second tally of the season.

Cahow, who began the season on the front line and has only recently been dropped back to defender by Harvard coach Katey Stone to better suit her style, has thrived at the new position, providing not only solid protection in front of the net but an extra offensive push from the back.

“She’s probably a natural defenseman and it took me a little while to figure that out to be honest with you,” Stone said. “She had been very effective as a forward and we were thinking, ‘Okay, that’s where she should be because she’s got a great shot.’ But ultimately she’s more comfortable back there.”

But, unlike previous years in which Stone has coached, when just one or two freshmen made a difference on a regular basis, Cahow hasn’t been the only freshman making positive contributions.

“This is the first year during my tenure at Harvard when all six freshmen have gotten tremendous playing time,” Stone said. “[They] came up big in big situations. Caitlin came out and got the first goal. And then [Sifers] got the third or fourth goal.”

With under 10 minutes remaining in the third period and the Huskies reeling following sophomore Jennifer Raimondi’s tally five minutes earlier, Sifers planted herself in front of the goal and waited to clean up Gunn’s mess. Ruggiero fired a shot on goal that hit off the netminder’s chest pad and fell squarely behind Sifers to Gunn’s right. Spinning round, she one-timed the puck while still in motion to ripple the mesh.

“There was just garbage in front of the net and I whipped around and there was the puck,” Sifers said. “I just took a shot kind of blindly and luckily it went in.”

“Jen scored that goal probably three times in huge situations for us. Once out in Duluth, once tonight and there was another one this weekend against Colgate when it was tied. So those things aren’t accidents that she winds up in the right place at the right time,” Stone added.

This past Saturday—the first game in which she joined Corriero and McAuliffe on the top line—while deadlocked at two at Colgate, Sifers retrieved a loose puck just outside the goalmouth and buried it to give Harvard the lead, if only briefly.

“[They were] the same types of plays, coming across picking up the scraps,” Stone said. “I think we always talk about how luck comes to those that hustle.”

But last night those freshmen weren’t lucky. They were just plain good.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.