New Year Starts with Tough Home Defeat

The new year was supposed to be a new start for the Harvard women’s hockey team, but instead, 2009 just brought more of the same.

The Crimson (5-6-3, 5-3-2 ECAC) suffered another disappointing loss on Friday night, falling to conference rival Princeton (8-8-1, 5-5-0), 1-0, at Bright Hockey Center.

“I thought we put together a good 60 minutes of hockey, and it’s a little frustrating that we didn’t pull out the win,” senior goaltender Brittany Martin said. “To be honest, I think we outplayed them, but their goalie stood on her head and had a good game, and the pucks just didn’t drop our way.”

The Tigers got all the offense they needed on a second-period goal from freshman Heather Landry. At the midpoint of the frame, Landry received the puck in the right circle and slipped it past Martin to put Princeton ahead for good.Freshmen Julie Johnson and Charissa Stadnyk recorded assists on the play.

“For the first five minutes after the goal, we kind of threw the puck around a little and let things get to us, but we calmed down after,” Martin said. “I was really proud of our effort in the third period, and I think we barreled right to the net.”

The Crimson got several quality chances in the final period, including a short-handed breakaway from tri-captain Sarah Vaillancourt, but Tigers netminder Kristen Young was impenetrable.

“They capitalized on one of our mistakes, and outside of that, I thought we put a tremendous amount of pressure on them,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “Their goaltender played very well, our goaltender played very well.”

Young turned away all 31 of the shots she faced, while Martin made 20 stops in net for the Crimson.

Late in the game, junior defenseman Jen Brawn sent a slapshot in from the left side, but the puck bounced off of Young’s pads and was picked up by Princeton.

In a final attempt to even the score, Martin was pulled with 57 seconds to play. But Harvard struggled to keep control in the Tigers’ zone with the extra skater, and time expired without the Crimson getting a real opportunity.

Although Princeton held the advantage in shots in the third period, 6-5, Harvard out-shot the Tigers overall and controlled the first 30 minutes of play.

Vaillancourt, who had a team-leading five shots, set up several good opportunities in the first period, but the Crimson was unable to capitalize.

Sophomore defenseman Leanna Coskren created some breakaway chances of her own, while junior defenseman Kathryn Farni and junior forward Randi Griffin recorded four shots apiece.

Neither team was able to convert on the power play, as Harvard went 0-for-4, and Princeton was held scoreless in its three opportunities.

The Crimson was playing the game without half of its typical starting lineup. Tri-captain Jenny Brine and junior defenseman Cori Bassett missed the game with injuries, and junior goaltender Christina Kessler is away from the squad to play with the Canadian U-22 national team.

Kessler is competing in the MLP Cup in Germany, which goes through tomorrow.

“That’s hockey. It’s going to happen,” Stone said of the absences. “These seasons are so long, and it’s rare when you keep everyone in the lineup. We’re never going to bank on those excuses—they’re great opportunities for other kids to step up.”

The loss also breaks Harvard’s 27-game unbeaten streak at Bright. The team’s last defeat at home came almost two years ago, a 2-1 loss to St. Lawrence on Jan. 26, 2007.

“You’ve got to be resilient, and I liked our effort tonight,” Stone said. “There were so many good things that happened, and they made more stops than we did. But overall, it’s a great effort to build on.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.