Harvard Surrenders Game, First Place to Dartmouth

It’s been a season of tough bounces, bad luck, and lost chances for the Harvard women’s hockey team.

Last night against No. 8 Dartmouth at Bright Hockey Center, the Crimson missed yet another opportunity, this one to take first place in the ECAC and start its climb back into the national rankings.

Harvard (6-7-3, 6-4-2 ECAC) fell, 3-0, to the Big Green (9-5-2, 7-3-2), ceding sole possession of the top spot in the conference to Dartmouth and suffering another setback in what has been a trying season.

The Crimson jumped out of the gate quickly, swarming the Big Green net and dominating possession of the puck for the first half of the opening period.

But Harvard could not break through, failing to capitalize on a power play opportunity and coming up short despite peppering Dartmouth goalie Carli Clemis with shots.

“It’s hard [not to score] when you sustain that much pressure,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “They literally didn’t get into our zone for almost 10 minutes.”

The Big Green finally got its chance against the Harvard defense when sophomore Kate Buesser went to the penalty box on a hooking charge.

Dartmouth made the most of its man advantage when center Jenna Cunningham slammed the puck home from in front of the net on a bang-bang play 13:19 into the first period.

“It was a little bit of a letdown,” Stone said. “There are swings in momentum and that was one of them.”

One goal was enough, but the Big Green built on its opening tally and took the offensive. With just over two minutes left in the first frame, Harvard goaltender Brittany Martin attempted to clear the puck out of the Crimson zone, but inadvertently found the stick of Dartmouth defenseman Sarah Newnam. Newnam hammered a slapshot towards the net, and teammate Alyssa Boehm got a piece of the puck, deflecting it past Martin to give the Big Green a 2-0 lead.

Dartmouth added one more goal with 7:36 left in the second period. Newnam whipped an outlet pass to Marley McMillan, who found herself on a 2-on-1 break with Cunningham. McMillan charged the left side of the net, redirecting the puck at the last moment to Cunningham who nailed home the score for her second goal of the game and seventh of the season.

The assist was Newnam’s third on the night, giving her a helping hand in each of the Big Green’s goals.

“They’re talented players,” said Harvard tri-captain Jenny Brine of Cunningham and Newnam. “When it comes down to it, they were getting the bounces and finding the holes when we couldn’t.”

For the Crimson’s part, the effort was there but the shots weren’t falling. Harvard attacked the net from all angles, but nothing seemed to work. Crimson co-captain Sarah Vaillancourt, a sleight-of-hand specialist with outstanding stick-handling ability, pulled out all the stops, but every juke resulted in a tipped puck and every nifty pass just barely eluded its intended receiver.

“We weren’t getting the bounces tonight, which was disappointing,” Brine said. “It’s kind of been the theme of the season.”

Then there was Dartmouth’s goalie.

Harvard took aim at Clemis on 31 occasions, but the Big Green netminder put up an impenetrable front. Clemis made several outstanding stops, sprawling across the ice to turn away all of the Crimson’s advances.

“My hat’s off to their goaltender,” Stone said. “She was tremendous. She won the game for them.”

In Harvard’s net, Martin was solid with 31 saves of her own in her final game in place of the Crimson’s normal starter, junior Christina Kessler.

But Clemis, and Dartmouth, was better, and Harvard left the ice still trying to find the winning formula that has so far eluded it this season.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.