Crimson’s Playoff Run Stopped at UNH

In their own NCAA Tournament, the Harvard women’s hockey team could not play the role of Cinderella.

The Crimson fell to New Hampshire (UNH) in the NCAA regional finals by a score of 3-1 on Friday night in New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center; but when Harvard skated off the ice, the mood was much more buoyant than it had been in the previous three years.

In its last three trips to the NCAA tournament, the Crimson had bowed out in gut-wrenching fashion in the national championship game. This season, the No. 8 Harvard squad made its mark by winning the ECAC championship in upset fashion, but were overmatched against the Wildcats on Friday.

“I’m very proud of our players,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “Certainly a lot of people didn’t imagine we’d get to this point.”

New Hampshire, however, made sure that Harvard made it no further as its relentless attack on Durham’s Olympic-size rink kept constant pressure on the Crimson throughout the game. Harvard goalie Ali Boe stopped a total of 38 shots, with many of the attempts coming from point-blank range.

“A lot of their kids, if they’re lacking in speed, they’re not lacking in hands, or vice versa,” Stone said. “When they get the puck, they make the right play.”

“They work the puck around pretty well and create a lot of havoc in front of the net,” Boe said.

The Wildcats broke open the scoring 11:42 into the opening frame while Harvard forward Liza Solley was sitting in the penalty box—the contest’s first special-teams situation.

After Boe turned aside a number of chances directly in front of her, New Hampshire’s Jennifer Hicthcock finally found a hole in the Crimson netminder’s defense when she fired a puck through a screen and between Boe’s pads. Martine Garland and Sadie Wright-Ward assisted on the goal.

Garland notched her own tally just three minutes later on a similar play. She shot from just inside the blue line in the middle of the ice and beat Boe at the upper left side of the goal with a good screen in front of the net.

“They’ve got all the ingredients to get themselves to the next step,” Stone said. “I don’t know whether that will happen, but they certainly have it all.”

For the Crimson, some of its best chances came early on in the game when it made quick counterattacks at the UNH net. Harvard never managed to mount a consistent pressure on offense, but a couple of stellar plays put some fear in the hearts of the Wildcats faithful and some hope in the hearts of the Crimson fans—who together totaled 2061 in attendance.

Two minutes before Hitchcock scored, Harvard freshman Jenny Brine beat a couple of UNH defenders with a mix of touch and strength, and even deked the Wildcats’ goalie, Melissa Bourdon.

But after Brine had faked out Bourdon and had an open net beside the outstretched leg of the goalie, she could not quite lift the puck and missed capitalizing on the opportunity.

“They didn’t generate, but they had situations that were potentially dangerous,” UNH coach Brian McCloskey said. “They did walk through us a couple of times.”

In the game’s final minute, Crimson freshman winger Sarah Wilson made another one of those plays. After the second intermission, Harvard returned to the ice with a little more momentum and was able to make its most noise of the day. In that final minute, senior Jennifer Raimondi made an across-ice leading pass to Wilson, who weaved into the middle and beat Bourdon with a five-hole shot on net.

But ultimately it was the UNH powerplay that decided the game—overwhelming the Crimson down low and going 2-for-3 to win the game by two goals.

“We were able to take advantage of their young [defense],” McCloskey said. “They couldn’t keep up with us down low when our forwards got it in deep.”

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.