Women's Hockey Battles Quinnipiac to a 2-2 Draw

Sixty minutes wasn’t enough time to decide the outcome of the Harvard women’s hockey team’s (17-2-3, 13-2-2 ECAC) game against the Quinnipiac Bobcats (17-4-7, 8-3-5) Saturday afternoon at the High Point Solutions Arena. Two come-from-behind goals by sophomores Miye D’Oench and Mary Parker tied the score at two, but the Crimson was unable to score a decisive goal in a 2-2 tie. The contest ended the Crimson’s season-high five-game win streak.

The Bobcat power duo of junior Shiann Darkangelo and senior Kelly Babstock once again shone. Darkangelo had a goal and an assist while Babstock added another assist, upping her season total to 24. The Bobcats is unbeaten when Babstock records a point. Darkangelo has earned at least one point in each of the last four games and leads the Bobcats with 17 goals on the season.

After the first period ended in a 0-0 tie, Darkangelo and Babstock attacked the Harvard defense just over five minutes into the second. After dodging several defenders through the middle of the ice, Babstock dished a hard shot toward sophomore Crimson goalie Emerance Maschmeyer, who redirected the puck straight to Darkangelo. The Bobcat junior grabbed the rebound and immediately sent it back to Maschmeyer, who was unable to block the puck a second time.

D’Oench was quick to reciprocate, scoring for Harvard just over six minutes later. Coming off of a pass from junior captain Marissa Gedman, D’Oench was able to send a high shot past diving Quinnipiac goalie junior Chelsea Laden. The 1-1 stalemate wouldn’t last long however, as Bobcat freshman Emma Woods retaliated with a goal in transition.

The Crimson was able to tie the score again at two apiece midway through the third period off of an unassisted Parker goal that provided the final margin.

“I came off the bench in the top of the offensive zone and I just started skating in,” Parker said. “Then the puck made its way to the front of the net so I just went to the net and poked it in. fortunately it slid under the goalie and went in.”

However, the Crimson offense struggled to regain control after the match was tied up. For the final eight minutes of play following Parker’s goal, Harvard notched only one shot—missing wide. Quinnipiac had 16 total shots in the same time frame, though not all were on target. In the whole period, the Bobcats led the Crimson in shots on net, 15 to seven.

The Crimson continued to struggle during the five minute overtime period. Harvard was only able to get one shot off, a dish by junior Samantha Reber that was blocked by Quinnipiac sophomore Cydney Roesler. The Bobcats was the only team able to get a shot on target in the additional time.

“We shortened the bench and went with the players we felt were ready to go and wanted it and that worked out and got a goal halfway through the third period,” coach Maura Crowell said. “We crashed the whole time. We expected to win always through the overtime and everything so we were disappointed with the tie but we did get behind a couple times so also lucky.”

Even with the tie, the Crimson earned three points this weekend to add to its season total of 28 and retain its lead atop the ECAC, with Clarkson in second with 26 points and Cornell taking the third place spot with 25 points. The team was disappointed it failed to earn the win on Saturday, but Crowe said it knew that things could have been much worse.

“We expected to win because we felt at any point we could have,” Crowell said. “Unfortunately it didn’t happen, but Quinnipiac is a good team and a tie is better than a loss.”

The Crimson won’t have much time to rest as it starts back up with games on Tuesday when it faces Northeastern University in the first round of the Beanpot tournament. Harvard grabbed a 3-2 win last time the two teams met on the ice on Jan. 4.

“We have a quick turnaround with the Beanpot on Tuesday so we have to be well rested and come out with a lot of energy and a lot of fire for 60 minutes,” Crowell said. “We just talked to the girls about the way that they play at the end of the game. It’s awesome when the pressure is on so they just have to bring that at the beginning and try to sustain it for 60 minutes and things will go their way.”

—Staff writer Theresa C. Hebert can be reached at thebert@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: Feb. 4, 2013

An earlier headline accompanying this article misspelled Quinnipiac.