Crimson Discipline Helps Blank Union

The Harvard women’s hockey team gave its audience of Olympic alumnae all that they could have wanted to see from their former team.

From breakout goals scored by new faces to senior leadership and shutdown defense, the Crimson (10-7-2, 9-3-2 ECAC) brought a little bit of everything to Bright Hockey Center on Saturday in its 4-0 win over Union (1-22-3, 1-12-2).

Everything, that is, except for penalties.

Just a day after allowing Rensselaer seven power plays, Harvard posted its first penalty-free outing of the season.

“In the past few games, we’ve been getting a lot of penalties,” tri-captain Liza Ryabkina said. “I think we kind of stepped back a little bit from it and tried to keep our feet moving and playing a little bit less physically, which has helped us out a lot to stay out of the box.”

The Crimson’s discipline allowed it to keep the Dutchwomen from gaining any offensive momentum. Only rarely was Harvard sophomore netminder Laura Bellamy threatened, and the Crimson’s ability to stay on the ice enabled it to apply constant pressure to the Union defense and keepers Alana Marcinko and Kate Gallagher.

Harvard was rewarded for its persistence with two goals on Marcinko in the first ten minutes of play. Sophomore defender Kelsey Romatoski notched the first off a shot from the blue line that rifled through a gathering at the goal to put the Crimson up five minutes into the game. Romatoski’s goal, her first of the season, would prove to be the game-winner. Freshman defender Jackie Young was credited with the assist.

Three minutes later, it was two of Harvard’s regular suspects, Ryabkina and sophomore Jillian Dempsey, who combined to find the back of the net. Dempsey’s goal at 8:47 into the first period led to the benching of goaltender Marcinko by Union coach Claudia Asano ’99, a former Crimson athlete and assistant coach. Gallagher subsituted in for Marcinko and played the remainder of the game, registering 25 saves.

Yet, despite the early goals, Harvard was dissatisfied with its play in the early minutes.

“In the first period, we were a little shaky,” Ryabkina said. “We didn’t really come out strong.”

But the Crimson’s shakiness wasn’t reflected in the stats: Harvard finished the frame with a 10-1 shot advantage and a 2-0 lead.

In fact, statistically, the first period was the Crimson’s most dominant. In both the second and third frames, Harvard outshot the Dutchwomen by six shots, compared to nine in the first period.

In the second and third periods, Union was often able to foil the Crimson’s offensive ambitions.

“I thought they did a good job defending what we were trying to do,” Stone said. “They definitely had watched some tape and made some adjustments, and it worked for them.”

But though the Dutchwomen played solid defense, they were not able to mount an offensive threat. Harvard’s defensemen were often able to steal the puck before it got far past the blue line. On the few occasions when Union was able to get off a shot on goal, Bellamy was there to make the saves.

“Those are hard games to play,” Stone said. “For goaltenders, it’s a lot easier when you get a lot of shots, and so she needed to mentally stay locked in. I thought she did a real good job, because they had a couple good chances down the stretch, and she’s playing solid. She’s doing what she needs to do, and everybody in front of her is working and doing their jobs, and that’s what it’s all about.”

With its offense unable to help, Union’s defense broke down at the hands of a trio of Harvard freshmen. Elizabeth Parker started the play by securing the puck and sending it to Kalley Armstrong. Armstrong hooked the puck to an open Gina McDonald in front of the goal. McDonald cashed in on the play for the first goal of her college career.

“Whenever someone gets her first collegiate goal, it’s always a big deal, and she works so hard that we were all just so excited for her,” Ryabkina said.

The game’s third goal, which came 17 minutes into second period, also gave Parker her first assist as a college athlete.

With the outcome secured, tri-captain Kate Buesser added her own flair to the game’s final goal, which came six minutes into the third period. Seemingly heading away from the goal, Buesser fired a quick shot past an unsuspecting Gallagher to set the margin at four goals.

The forward’s goal was the final touch on what was a dominating weekend for the Crimson.

“It’s obviously awesome to win, especially when it’s alumnae weekend and everybody’s back,” Romatoski said.

But three Harvard hockey alumnae were probably not as pleased as the rest with the Crimson’s easy win over the Dutchwomen. Those three were Union coaches Asano, Ali Boe ’06, and Julie Chu ’06-’07.

Chu, an Olympic medalist and winner of the Patty Kazmaier award, was honored in between periods along with Harvard’s other Olympic alumnae.

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.