No. 2 Big Red Protects Home Ice, Gives Crimson First Loss

With just seven minutes and 23 seconds remaining in Saturday evening’s contest, Harvard junior Kaitlin Spurling scored a game-tying goal to bring the No. 10 Crimson women’s hockey team (3-1, 3-1 ECAC) dead even with a No. 2 Cornell squad (5-1, 4-1 ECAC) that has had its number for the past two years.

Eight seconds later, the status quo was back in place, and the Big Red continued on to a 5-3 win over visiting Harvard in Ithaca, N.Y.

“I know we were really excited,” said freshman forward Sarah Edney of tying things up. “It was a matter of holding on. It was a little discouraging that they came back so quickly.”

Cornell had charged out to an early lead with two power-play goals in the first 10 minutes of the night.

Big Red freshman Jillian Saunier drew first blood, capitalizing on a cross-ice pass from sophomore Alyssa Gagliardi.

A minute and a half later, Cornell senior Chelsea Karpenko made it a 2-0 Big Red lead off an feed from classmate Catherine White.

Eight minutes later, Edney put the Crimson on the board.

The goal wasn’t technically a power-play score, as the slashing penalty on Gagliardi had expired three seconds earlier, but Edney scored before Cornell had a chance to reassemble for five-on-five hockey.

It was the rookie’s first collegiate goal. Classmate Hilary Crowe picked up her first collegiate point with an assist on the play, and sophomore forward Kalley Armstrong also assisted.

“It was a matter of responding,” Edney said.

After the Big Red’s 14-10 shot advantage in the first period helped it post a 2-1 lead, the second period was more evenly distributed.

Cornell took seven shots to Harvard’s six, and the teams scored one goal apiece in the frame.

Once again, the Big Red struck first, this time off a rebound.

Crimson junior goaltender Laura Bellamy had been able to stop a shot from Gagliardi, but Cornell’s White grabbed the loose puck and stuff it into the net to push the Big Red’s lead back to two and score Cornell’s first non-power-play goal.

In the first period, Harvard and the Big Red had three and two penalties, respectively, but the second frame was much cleaner.

The Crimson was able to kill its only penalty of the period, which came 2:37 in when sophomore Marissa Gedman was called for holding the stick of one of Cornell’s players.

But when Big Red freshman forward Emily Fulton was called for elbowing, Harvard took advantage. Crowe scored 14 minutes into the second period off an assist from Armstrong—her second of the night.

Cornell didn’t find its scoring touch again until midway through the final frame, after the Crimson had brought the game even.

“We kind of knew we could do that,” Edney said of coming back. “We just had the jump and wanted to win it all.”

Instead, Spurling’s tying goal served as a wake-up call for the Big Red. Saulnier put Cornell back on top shortly after the opposing score.

And a minute and a half later, Fulton struck for the Big Red, to bring the game to 5-3, which would be the final score.

The third period was the first one in which Cornell seemed to dominate the puck—the Big Red took 16 shots to the Crimson’s four.

Bellamy made 14 saves in the period and 31 overall.

“I’m not happy with having given up that many goals,” Bellamy said of her own performance. “We can’t give up five goals and expect to win.”

It is clear what this game means for Harvard and Cornell’s records.

But what the game forecasts for the remainder of the season is more ambiguous. Because of the Four Nations Cup, which is currently taking place in Nyköping, Sweden, both the Crimson and the Big Red were without their head coaches.

Harvard was also playing without junior forward Jillian Dempsey, junior defenseman Josephine Pucci, and freshman defenseman Michelle Picard. Cornell, meanwhile, was without junior defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau, sophomore forward Brianne Jenner, and senior forward Rebecca Johnston.

“We’re definitely excited to see them again later on,” Bellamy said. “It was fun to play in that environment. We were really happy with the way we played.”

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