Stack’s Hat Trick Spurs BC to Blowout Win over Harvard

Rewind to Feb. 2, 2010: the nationally-ranked Harvard women’s hockey team, which was in the midst of a season that culminated in an NCAA quarterfinals appearance, routed unranked Boston College, 5-0, in the Beanpot opener.

Now fast-forward to yesterday afternoon: in a reversal from last season, the unranked Crimson (4-5-2, 4-2-2 ECAC) fell to the No. 6 Eagles, 6-2, at Conte Forum. Harvard’s matchup against BC (11-2-4, 6-1-2 Hockey East) marks the end of a five-game stretch against nationally-ranked opponents.

In the course of the game, though the Crimson played well offensively, crucial defensive miscues and solid goaltending from BC goaltender Molly Schaus proved to be the recipe for Harvard’s downfall.

“BC is a very good team,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “We made mistakes, and they were good enough to capitalize on it. We did some nice things offensively—we had some good chances—but their goaltender was tremendous. So we could clean up a few things, because we caused a lot of our own headaches.”

With the drop of the puck in the first period, the Crimson initially kept pace with the Eagles, matching BC offensively. Though the Eagles would strike first with 12:09 on the clock as senior BC forward and Olympian Kelli Stack slipped a goal into the net off a breakaway, Harvard would respond in kind nine minutes later. Tri-captain Kate Buesser flicked a wrist shot past the Eagles’ goalie to tie up the match, with fellow captain Leanna Coskren recording the assist.

At the end of the first period, both teams found themselves in a statistical stalemate, with Harvard holding a slight advantage in shots, 12-9.

But with the start of the second period, the host team gained control of the match. In the span of 12 minutes, the Eagles’ offense tallied three unanswered goals to gain a 4-1 advantage.

Leading the potent BC offense was Stack, who tallied two more goals—one early and one late in the second period—to register a hat trick for the game. Stack scored her second goal of the match with 14:30 to play in the second period with a skillful deke against sophomore Crimson goaltender Laura Bellamy to put the Eagles ahead by one.

Three minutes later, a defensive miscue from Harvard would help BC to score again. Capitalizing on a poor pass in the Crimson defensive zone, Eagle forward Mary Restuccia flicked a wrist shot into the upper right corner of the net to increase the lead to two. Stack would then complete her hat trick off a two-on-one rush with 4:30 left in the second to give BC a commanding three-goal lead.

The second period was marked as much by the Crimson’s inability to capitalize on power-play opportunities as it was for the Eagles’ offensive surge. Though Harvard was gifted with two power-play opportunities off holding and bodychecking penalties from the Eagles, the pressure from the Harvard offense—which recorded six shots in the frame—was not enough to solve Schaus.

“It’s easier to kill a penalty than it is to score a power-play goal,” Stone said. “However, we were getting some better looks at the net and moving the puck better.”

As play entered the third period, the power-play woes of the Crimson continued, as it was only able to capitalize on one of its four man-up opportunities in the final period.

Less than three minutes into the third period, the Eagles scored again, as BC forward Melissa Bizzari slid the puck past Bellamy, but Harvard responded to bring the score to 5-2.

In the midst of its first power-play opportunity of the period, senior forward Katharine Chute poked a pass in the direction of sophomore defender Josephine Pucci, who then fired a one-timer into the Eagles’ net.

With Pucci’s goal, the Harvard offense sprung back to life, pressuring deep into the BC defensive zone and working the Eagles’ goaltender. But Schaus once again proved to be unbeatable, as she saved 25 out of the 27 shots the Crimson offense fired at her in the game.

BC’s Ashley Motherwell would add an insurance goal with 1:58 left on the clock to give the Eagles the 6-2 win.

Though Harvard would leave the match with an advantage in shots, 27-18, the performances of BC’s two Olympians—Stack’s hat trick and Schaus’s goaltending—proved insurmountable for the Crimson.

“It was a tough ending for us, for sure,” Pucci said. “It’s obviously a bit discouraging, losing, 6-2, but all we can do now is look forward.”

—Staff writer Oluwatoni A. Campbell can be reached at oluwatoni.campbell@college.harvard.edu.