When Princeton coach Jeff Kampersal first learned for sure that the Harvard women’s hockey team this weekend would be missing Jennifer Botterill, its captain and top scorer, he saw no cause for celebration. He was right. His No. 8 Tigers still could not stay close to the No. 1 Crimson (14-1-0, 7-0-0 ECAC).

Harvard won 5-2 at Princeton after a 6-0 victory over Yale on Friday to cement its status as the first-place team in the ECAC. Freshman Julie Chu scored two goals in each game, captain Kalen Ingram scored three for the weekend and the Crimson’s third line stepped up to score two of Harvard’s three even-strength goals against Yale (3-12-1, 1-5-0). Defensively, Harvard did not give up anything until the third period against the Tigers (11-5-2, 4-2-0), when its 241-minute shutout streak was snapped.

“It was a huge weekend for us,” said senior defenseman Pamela Van Reesema. “It proved to us we have a lot of depth. It was a big confidence boost.”

Princeton entered the Harvard game on a hot streak after wins over Providence and Brown. Friar coach Bob Deraney recently said the only difference between his team and Harvard was Botterill’s individual efforts, but even his full squad couldn’t beat Princeton, while the Crimson—without Botterill—had little trouble with the Tigers. Botterill was attending a Canadian national team camp for the weekend.

With the wins, Harvard enters its exam break with an 11-game win streak and a two-game lead in the ECAC loss column. The Crimson has outscored its conference opponents 54-6 on the season.

Harvard won’t play again until it meets Boston College on Jan. 28. Aside from exams, the Crimson will spend the next two weeks healing and training for the stretch run.

“It’s nice to have a two-week break,” Ingram said. “But we definitely have to get into the weight room and use this time away from games properly so we can be faster and stronger when we get back.”

Harvard 5, Princeton 2

At the midway point of the second period, Harvard captain Angela Ruggiero was sent to the penalty box, seemingly giving the Tigers their best chance to even a 1-0 deficit. Instead, the man advantage turned out to be their undoing.

As Princeton tried to bring the puck out of the defensive zone, Ingram forced a turnover. Chu won the puck and put it on net, scoring an opportunistic goal that gave the Crimson a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers’ power play—third-best in the nation behind Harvard and No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth—looked to make one last run in the final seconds of Ruggiero’s penalty. But sophomore winger Nicole Corriero stole the puck in the neutral zone and fed Ruggiero coming out of the box. Ruggiero walked in easily and scored untouched for the 3-0 lead.

In the third period, sophomore Kat Sweet eluded three defenders and found Chu, who put Harvard up 4-0. Chu’s shot hit the crossbar and deflected in off Princeton goaltender Megan Van Beusekom.

Princeton scored twice late in the third period to pull within two before junior forward Lauren McAuliffe deflected in a Ruggiero slapshot for the 5-2 final.

McAuliffe’s goal was the second of the game for Harvard’s second line. Ingram scored the only goal of the first period, feeding Corriero behind the net and converting the return pass from the crease.

“We were flying and finding each other,” Ingram said. “Lauren was doing all sorts of grinding on the board, and Nicky [Corriero] was showing a lot of speed and getting into the open spots.”