FEMALE BREAKOUT ATHLETE OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP: Buesser Up to the Challenge

When the puck dropped in the season opener for women’s hockey, Harvard had a new look up front. Gone were its top three scorers from a year ago—Sarah Vaillancourt ’08-’09, Jenny Brine ’09, and Sarah Wilson ’09. Temporarily missing was junior Liza Ryabkina, a dynamic forward who was sidelined for the season’s first month with a knee injury.

And into the void stepped junior Kate Buesser.

Though the winger had been a contributor in her first two years on the team—scoring a combined 26 points while playing in every game—it wasn’t until this season that she became a star.

“I was happy to fill in that role,” Buesser said. “Coming into the season, I prepared well, and I knew I was a good player out there. I just really wanted to show what we could do with this team.”

Buesser broke through in the fourth game of the season, scoring twice and notching an assist in the Crimson’s 3-0 win over St. Lawrence. And from that point on, she steadily emerged as the leader of Harvard’s new-look offense.

The junior finished the year with 40 points, more than double her career best of 16 and tied for the ECAC lead. For her efforts, Buesser was a top-three finalist for ECAC Player of the Year while being named to the All-ECAC and All-Ivy First Teams.

“It was a team effort,” Buesser explained. “I couldn’t have scored all those goals without the team helping out. It was that mental leap where you can’t just sit back anymore—you have to take the game in control.”

But just as her team supported her, Buesser helped her linemates succeed, dishing out 24 assists while finishing the season with a +25 rating—good for best in the conference.

Buesser spent much of the year playing with rookie center Jillian Dempsey, who wound up 10th in the country in rookie scoring, and Ryabkina—a line that consistently created scoring opportunities and combined for 14 points in four playoff games.

“I think it’s because we weren’t relying on one specific person or two specific people to do all of our scoring,” Buesser said. “We all knew that everyone was capable of scoring.”

Buesser had a career high in points in a November matchup with Quinnipiac, tallying a goal and adding three assists to go along with a +4 rating, but her consistency is what set her apart. Though she never scored more than twice in a game, very few contests went by where Buesser’s name didn’t show up on the score sheet.

“She was able to play how she wanted to play,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “I think she played without pressure, and that was awesome.”

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