Crimson Surges to First 2010 Win

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Harvard women’s hockey team felt that it had something to prove. After a last-second goal forced the Crimson to settle for a tie with Cornell on Friday night, Harvard wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Two first-period scores set the tone as the No. 6 Crimson (9-4-4, 7-4-2 ECAC) beat up on Colgate (7-14-3, 3-6-3), 5-1, at Bright Hockey Center—breaking a three-game winless streak in the process.

“[On Friday] everybody went into the game hoping for the win, and that didn’t happen,” senior goaltender Christina Kessler said. “[Against Colgate] that was our objective, and we’re glad we accomplished it.”

Harvard controlled play right from the beginning of the game, outshooting the Raiders, 15-6, in the first frame and easily killing off an early penalty.

Fifteen minutes into the period, the Crimson got on the scoreboard. Co-captain Kathryn Farni fed a pass to junior Liza Ryabkina, who put a shot on goal. Although Colgate goalie Lisa Plenderleith stopped the initial shot, Ryabkina picked up her own rebound, skated around the net, and lifted her second shot into the high left corner.

Senior Randi Griffin was credited with the secondary assist.

It took Harvard just 29 seconds to double its lead. Raider Amanda Kirwan was whistled for tripping at 15:50 of the first, and the Crimson’s new-look power-play unit needed just seven seconds to find the back of the net.

Co-captain Cori Bassett passed the puck to junior Kate Buesser, who made a nice cross to classmate Leanna Coskren. Coskren buried the feed just inside the right post of the goal.

“I was impressed with how we came out,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We had a lot of energy, we were pretty determined and committed.”

Buesser gave the Crimson a three-goal advantage eight minutes into the second frame. Rookie center Jillian Dempsey took a pass from classmate Kelsey Romatoski and brought the puck up the left boards. Dempsey found her linemate at the right post, and Buesser tapped it in for a 3-0 lead.

After Buesser’s goal, Harvard’s offense took a back seat to a strong defensive effort. The Crimson shut down the Raiders’ attack and looked at its best on two late-period penalty kills, when Colgate could barely maintain control in its offensive zone.

“One of the things that was good today was that we backchecked hard, we handled their stretch player,” Stone said. “They had very few good chances today…Regardless of the score, we were consistent in how we played. We never took our foot off the gas.”

Harvard would add two more goals early in the third, the first coming 40 seconds into the frame. The Crimson’s first line went to work again, as Dempsey fed a pass to Buesser, who charged towards the Raider net. Buesser’s shot was pushed away, but junior Katharine Chute scooped up the rebound and slipped it past Plenderleith to make the score 4-0.

Bassett made it a five-goal advantage seven minutes later with an unassisted shot from the left faceoff circle.

Although Harvard kept the defensive pressure on, Colgate broke up Kessler’s clean sheet with less than seven minutes left in the game. Raider Krista Dermott skated the puck up the right side and beat Kessler to make the final score 5-1.

“I’m sizzling from yesterday and sizzling from them getting a goal today, because they never should have gotten a goal today,” Stone said. “But overall, I like how we played today. We did a lot of really good things, and we’ve got to keep an edge to us.”

Kessler finished the game with 21 saves as she recorded her 64th career victory, breaking the all-time school record previously held by Ali Boe ’06.

With its first win of 2010 in hand, Harvard moved into fifth place in the crowded ECAC standings—just three points out of first. But with only nine games left on the conference slate, the Crimson knows it must make every contest count.

“We pretty much played 60 minutes of hockey, which we haven’t done in a while,” Kessler said. “It was good to come away with the victory and great to come away with three points, but I think ultimately our goal was to come away with four points this weekend.”

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