"Coach has given me a lot of confidence. Having her place confidence in me allowed me to be confident myself," Corriero said. "Kalen [Ingram] in just amazing. Being able to play with great players makes you a better player."

When asked about Corriero, Stone merely smiled.

"We'll keep her."

But Stone was also quick to distribute the credit to the entire team.

"When a kid scores that many goals, it's a collaborative effort."

Ingram was especially pleased with Corriero's performance but was also quick to temper her excitement.

"It's encouraging that Nikki broke out, but we can't rest on our laurels. There are a lot tougher teams out there," Ingram said. "We're up [to playing them], we just have to outwork them. That's been our plan all year."

The Crimson faced one of those tougher teams in the Dartmouth Big Green, and they did outwork them for two periods. But the bounces did not go Harvard's way as Dartmouth scored two soft goals in its 3-2 victory.

Van Reesema once again opened the scoring. Less than two minutes into the game, with Dartmouth senior defender Kristin Romberg in the box for obstruction, Harvard's line of Corriero, Ingram and junior Tracy Catlin ran an efficient powerplay and created good pressure. Van Reesema crashed the net and banged a rebound home on her second effort. Ingram and Corriero were credited with the assists.

The Crimson buckled down on defense after taking the lead. Sophomore goaltender Jessica Ruddock was required to make some tough saves when junior defenseman and captain Jamie Hagerman and freshmen defenseman Ashley Banfield were sent to the box late in the period, Hagerman for interference and then Banfield for cross checking.

The Big Green tied the game midway through the second period when Ruddock lost sight of the puck in a crowded scramble in front of the net. Crimson fans watched in horror as the puck bounced off a skate or stick and trickled slowly and painfully behind Ruddock and into the net. Big Green junior forward Jillian Rockoff was credited with the goal—pure luck should be credited with the assist.

Dartmouth took the lead early in the third period. It created good pressure in front of the net and freshman forward Danielle Grundy banged the puck home when the Crimson defense failed to clear.

Harvard responded 10 seconds later. Catlin picked up the puck off the ensuing face-off and broke towards the goal. The Cambridge, Mass. native buried the puck in the top corner for her second goal of the season.

Though the young Crimson squad had played with the more experienced Big Green for two periods, in the third period fatigue began to take its toll.

Coach Stone double-shifted her top two lines in an effort to create scoring opportunities, but the resilient Big Green began to dominate the tired Crimson skaters.