PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Harvard freshman Carrie Schroyer needed just one shift yesterday to make her coach look like a genius.

With the Harvard women’s hockey team tied with Brown in the third period at Meehan Arena, coach Katey Stone chose to promote Schroyer from the third line to the first to replace ailing sophomore Nicole Corriero. On her first shift alongside captain Jennifer Botterill and freshman Julie Chu, Schroyer capitalized for her first collegiate goal, the game-winner in a 3-2 Harvard victory.

“I wasn’t really expecting it when coach pushed me up in the third period,” Schroyer said. “My first shift out there I got a perfect pass from Botterill and it was my first collegiate goal, so it was really exciting today. It was a great opportunity to play with Julie and Jen.”

The win over No. 7 Brown (4-4-2, 3-2 ECAC) could be enough to propel the No. 2 Crimson (7-1, 5-0) to the top of the national rankings since No. 1 Minnesota lost twice to No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth this weekend.

Schroyer created the scoring opportunity by speeding past two Bear defenders to get open in the often-packed Brown defensive zone. Botterill, carrying the puck to the left endline, turned and found Schroyer coming towards the net. Schroyer drilled the puck just inside the open near-side of the net to light the lamp.

“Carrie has a lot of legs—she’s a very smart positional player,” Stone said of her reasons for elevating Schroyer to the first line. “One thing Carrie does all the time is go to the net with her stick down and it certainly paid off.”

The payoff for Harvard’s effort was minimized by Brown goaltender Pam Dreyer, who made 48 saves in defeat.

“It could have been a 7-2 game had it not been for Pam Dreyer,” Stone said. “We had terrific looks at the net.”

With Dreyer in the net and four players in the defensive zone on any given Harvard attack, Brown was tough to crack defensively, but not impenetrable.

On the game’s first goal, Botterill created space for herself by passing to captain Anglea Ruggiero at the point, then receiving the puck back after Ruggiero had drawn the defense’s attention. Botterill tried to feed Corriero in front, but the puck deflected off a defender’s skate on net. Dreyer made the initial save but Corriero put the loose puck home.

That goal, which came with 10 seconds left in the period, haunted Brown in the end.

“We can’t expect to make mistakes like that and not have them capitalize on them,” said Brown coach Digit Murphy.

Harvard’s second goal was created more by Chu’s speed than Brown’s mistakes. Receiving a pass from captain Jamie Hagerman in the Brown zone, Chu saw a lane to the net down the right side and took off. Dreyer appeared to have stopped Chu’s initial shot but with Harvard players bearing down on her, the puck slipped over the goal line for a 2-1 Crimson lead.

While Dreyer made the most saves, Harvard sophomore Jessica Ruddock made the most impressive stop when she stuffed Brown captain Kim Insalaco on a red-line breakaway to keep the score 2-1 at the time.

Ruddock made 19 saves for the victory and kept her goals-against average to 1.37, the best mark in the nation among goaltenders that have played 400 minutes this season.