Harvard Gets Solid Performance in Goal

The arrival of Quinnipiac at Bright Hockey Center on Saturday provided the Harvard women’s hockey team with a chance for redemption after the previous night’s defeat.

Coming off a tight 1-0 loss to divisional foe Princeton on Friday, the Crimson (6-6-3, 6-3-2 ECAC) took advantage of a shoddy Quinnipiac defense while simultaneously keeping scoring opportunities for the Bobcats (3-18-2, 2-7-2 to a minimum in a 3-1 victory.

Saturday’s game also provided senior goaltender Brittany Martin with another chance to reestablish her previously dominant play in goal.

Once again filling in for junior starter Christina Kessler, Martin flirted with a shutout until two minutes remained in the third quarter.

Bobcat junior Janine Duffy ended those hopes when she pushed in a shot with 2:12 to go. Martin was otherwise impenetrable in the net, making 25 saves in the game.

“She stepped up,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “She’s done everything we’ve asked her to do.

“Yesterday she did a great job. Today she did a great job,” Stone added.

The late goal was catalyzed by a hooking call against sophomore Liza Ryabkina at 16:37 in the third—the last of five Harvard penalties. Although the women’s squad staved off Quinnipiac’s assault following the previous four penalties, the mounting errors eventually took their toll.

“Ultimately what matters is that we came out with the W,” Martin said.

Quinnipiac also refocused its attack in the third, outshooting Harvard 16-14.

Prior to the third, however, the Bobcats’ offensive efforts lacked the zeal mustered in the final period. The first two periods belonged to the Crimson, who attacked the Quinnipiac net in a rhythmic fashion that wore down the Bobcats defense and forced Qunnipiac goaltender Tia Wishart to frequently swipe at dangerously close pucks.

Eventually the barrage of shots paid off. At 12:41 in the first, Ryabkina swooped in behind the Quinnipiac goal from the left corner and fed the puck to captain Kirsten Kester. Kester then knocked it through Wishart’s legs to earn the first goal of the game and the first of Kester’s season.

“She’s our emotional sparkplug,” Stone said. “That really set the tone.”

The second goal came in the next period, when senior Kati Vaughn accepted a pass from tri-captain Sarah Vaillancourt at 10:13 and launched the puck from long range into the Bobcats net.

Harvard out-shot Quinnipiac 19-4 in the first frame and 13-6 in the second. The Crimson was firing on all cylinders—each of Harvard’s three goals and four assists were contributed by different players.

“You want to have that balance within your lines,” Stone said.

Using this balance, Harvard tacked on a third goal with four minutes remaining in the final period in a setup similar to that which earned the Crimson its first tally. Instead of Kessler and Ryabkina, though, it was sophomore Amy Uber’s and junior Anna McDonald’s assists that allowed junior Randi Griffin to earn her first goal of the season and increase her team’s lead to 3-0.

Harvard kept Wishart on her toes throughout the game, even remaining aggressive in 4-on-5 situations. Instead of defending its goal and making attempts at clearing the puck, the Crimson preferred to take the fight to the Bobcats territory where Harvard continued to fire at Wishart despite the player deficit.

Perhaps the only area lacking for the Crimson was penalty conversion—despite two opportunities, it failed to take advantage of Quinnipiac’s errors. The power play has hurt Harvard all season; the Crimson has scored on only 13-of-79 opportunities thus far.

—Staff writer Emmett Kistler can be reached at ekistler@fas.harvard.edu.