Late Goal Leads to Non-Conference Win

It was a break from the grinding ECAC conference schedule, but for the Crimson women’s hockey team, Saturday’s contest was no vacation.

No. 7 Harvard welcomed No. 9 Providence (12-9-8, 8-4-4 Hockey East) to Bright Hockey Center in a matchup of two programs looking to make noise in the postseason. The Crimson (12-5-4, 8-5-2 ECAC) took control with an early goal and put the game away with a late one, earning a 2-1 victory.

“I liked how our team played tonight,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “Providence didn’t go away, and we stayed on it. We managed the last minutes of the game pretty well. I’m very pleased with how it went.”

Though the Crimson outplayed the Friars for most of the game, Harvard found itself in a 1-1 deadlock in the waning minutes.

But when Providence winger Arianna Rigano was sent to the box for cross-checking with six minutes to play in the game, the Crimson made the most of the opportunity.

A series of quick cross-ice passes from junior Leanna Coskren and co-captain Kathryn Farni put the puck on senior Randi Griffin’s stick. From the right post, Griffin chipped the puck into the net for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.

“[Friar netminder Genevieve Lacasse] played great,” Stone said. “We had all kinds of chances, and we just couldn’t bury them, but we persevered. We had a great power-play goal at the end, that sort of vintage Harvard power play.”

The vintage power-play goal was followed up by some characteristically-stingy defense from the Crimson blueliners, as Harvard held Providence scoreless through a late-game power play and 92 seconds of 6-on-5 action.

Defense was the story throughout the afternoon, highlighted by the play of freshman goaltender Laura Bellamy. The rookie picked up 19 saves in her second-straight win—and first ever over a ranked opponent.

“She’s stepping up and she’s competing hard and that’s great to see, that’s what we’re asking,” Stone said. “Just keep us in the game, give us an opportunity to win. We’ll do our best in front of you.”

The Crimson started the game strong, opening the scoring just over five minutes in. Farni sent a pass to junior Katharine Chute, whose shot from the right circle bounced up into the top of the net for the 1-0 lead.

From there, Harvard cruised, outshooting the Friars, 27-11, through two periods of play.

“They have a strong goalie, but I think we kept getting some shots on net, which is something we wanted to do right from the start,” Farni said. “We wanted to come out hard and stay on them all three periods.”

All told, the Crimson launched 36 shots at Lacasse. But midway through the third, the home team faltered.

Providence earned a faceoff in its offensive zone, and sophomore center Kate Bacon won the draw and quickly passed the puck off to linemate Rigano. Rigano let a slow shot off, but Bellamy didn’t see it coming through a screen. The puck dribbled across the goal line, tying the score at one.

“We were dominating the game, and then to kind of let in a fluffy goal like that was tough,” Farni said. “But we bounced back. That’s what you’ve got to do, be resilient.”

Griffin’s goal came five minutes later, and gave Harvard its momentum back—and a lead that it would not relinquish.

“All weekend we’ve been talking about momentum changes in athletics, and how if you’re a basketball player, it happens to you all the time,” Stone said. “In hockey, it’s a little bit different...You just have to weather the storm and sort of respond and dictate what happens.”

All three of the Crimson’s offensive lines—two of which were shuffled heading into weekend play—saw significant ice time and were able to create chances in front of the goal.

“It’s been nice to see the chemistry develop between some of the new lines,” Farni said. “I think it’s been working out great, everyone seems to be getting along pretty well.”

Rookie center Jillian Dempsey, skating between Chute and senior Anna McDonald, put four shots on net, but more impressive was the freshman’s performance in the faceoff circle. Dempsey won 24 out of 27 draws on the afternoon.

“I think [the new lines] are pretty good—we’re generating some offense,” Stone said. “The kids are just playing better now. I think they’re getting going.”

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