Botterill beat Huggon with a snappy high backhander to put the Crimson up by two at 13:57. Junior winger Tammy Shewchuk also picked up a point for the assist.

The Crimson found itself short-handed a couple of minutes later when freshman defenseman Pam Van Reesma went to the penalty box for cross checking at 14:42, but with a 2-0 cushion, Harvard continued to press Huggon's net.

The pressure paid off when Botterill found classmate Angela Ruggiero in the slot. Ruggiero, whose slapshot is among the hardest in the ECAC and is a constant threat from the point, batted at the slow-moving puck and beat Huggon with a dinger to the glove side.

Despite Harvard's domination in the first period, the frame saw a great deal of physical play, as the Crimson only found opportunities on the net after fending off some aggressive Wildcat challenges.

There were three Wildcat penalties in the first 10 minutes, including slashing and cross-checking calls right before the midway point of the period. Harvard seemed to answer when Shewchuk went to the box for slashing at 10:18, and the pace slowed little throughout the rest of the game.

UNH wasted little time leveling the play at the start of the first period, as defenseman Karry Maher put a rebound shot past Harvard goalie Crystal Springer on the Wildcat powerplay at 4:38 after junior forward Tara Dunn went to the box for hooking.

The Wildcats found themselves with a man-advantage eight times in the game, but only could convert on one of those chances. The Crimson went 0-for-3 on the powerplay for the evening.