Women's Hockey Knocks Off Yale in OT

In the 60th meeting between Harvard and Yale in women’s hockey, 60 minutes were not enough to settle the affair.

The Crimson overcame a pair of two-goal deficits with a feverish third-period rally and scored with 56 seconds left in overtime to topple the Bulldogs (15-12-2, 10-10-2 ECAC) by a 4-3 final at Bright Hockey Center Friday night.

After Harvard earned a man-advantage with 1:11 remaining in the extra session, coach Katey Stone called a timeout and, knowing Yale would assume its tightest defensive formation, sent the top power-play unit back onto the ice in its customary 5-on-3 setup.

The decision paid quick dividends when sophomore Jenny Brine, streaking in front of the net, deflected co-captain Julie Chu’s wrister past Bulldogs netminder Shivon Zilis for the game-winner.

“Chu said, ‘Expect a little wrister coming at you, just to get something on net,’” Brine said. “I was there, and it hit my leg and went in. We’ll take it.”

Brine’s 23rd score of the season—her eighth game-winning goal—capped a dramatic comeback for the Crimson, which was forced to notch three goals in the final period of regulation to avoid the upset loss.

In all, the team scored four times in a 20-minute, 10-second span.

“We got a little careless in the second period and dug ourselves a hole,” Stone said. “And fortunately we were able to come out of it. [We showed] a lot of strong character coming back from 2-0, 3-1 [deficits] to win 4-3, so I’m happy with that for sure.”

Trailing 3-2 late in the third period, sophomore Sarah Vaillancourt came within inches of knotting the score on a solo breakaway. Zilis came up huge with a diving glove save, losing her stick in the process. But Harvard instantly regained possession, cycling the puck around the edges from junior Caitlin Cahow to Chu to sophomore defender Nora Sluzas.

Sluzas uncorked a slapshot that went through Zilis’ five-hole to record her first career goal and tie the game with 8:08 remaining.

“When you have that much energy on the bench, it translates right onto the ice,” Sluzas said. “We just figured we have to win this game, there’s no way we’re losing, so we went after it.”

With momentum in hand, the Crimson had several good chances to win in regular time, but Zilis, who finished with 36 saves, was equal to the challenge.

Sluzas’s strike ended a flurry of activity midway through the third period. Yale claimed a 3-1 lead on a power-play goal with 10:24 left in regulation.

The Crimson responded inside of a minute on a goal by freshman Randi Griffin. Sophmore Kati Vaughn set up the score with a strong rush at the right post, feeding across the crease for Griffin to chip it in top-shelf for her third goal of the season.

“In terms of energy, you could just tell the team was a whole different team in that third period,” Brine said. “Once we cracked the goaltender, you could just feel the energy on the bench. I think everybody knew right then that we were going to make a great comeback.”

Harvard absolutely dominated possession in the opening period, outshooting Yale by a 12-1 margin and earning two power-play chances. But Zilis kept her opponents off the scoreboard, and the Bulldogs stunned the Crimson by seizing a 1-0 lead 2:22 into the second period.

“Their goaltender played great,” Stone said. “And she got to see almost every puck because we didn’t have enough traffic in front of the net early on.”

The Bulldogs added to their lead with 4:39 remaining in the period on a misplay by Harvard rookie goalie Christina Kessler. The keeper tried to control Carry Resor’s slapshot from the top of the left circle with her glove but dropped the puck in front of the net, where it was easily picked up and buried in the net by the onrushing Danielle Kozlowski.

The Crimson trimmed its deficit to 2-1 at the 3:54 mark of the final period. Senior Katie Johnston poked in the rebound of a Brine wrister that caused Zilis to tumble backwards.

Harvard finished with a 40-17 advantage in shots, with 19 coming from its top line of Chu, Vaillancourt, and sophomore Sarah Wilson. Chu recorded two assists to bump her nation-leading total to 44.

“It’s pretty tough when you go to triple overtime [Feb. 6 at Boston College] and you lose an overtime game,” Stone said. “You start doubting yourselves and there’s no reason to doubt ourselves. We’re a good hockey team and we have a lot of talented players...Hopefully we can keep rolling.”

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.