Advertisement

Postseason Dominance

W. hockey crushes Cornell to advance to the ECAC semifinals

Finally, the Harvard women’s hockey team is done with sub-.500 competition. All that remain on its schedule are the ECAC championships and the NCAA Frozen Four.

The No. 1 Crimson (28-1-1) aimed to get into peak form this weekend as it crushed Cornell (4-21-2) in a best-of-three ECAC quarterfinal series. The victories—a 13-1 win on Friday, followed by a 7-0 win on Saturday—were Harvard’s two largest ever in postseason history.

“I think we were flying,” said Harvard captain Jennifer Botterill. “Yesterday we had a little more jump than we did today, but overall we had a great weekend. I feel like we’re right where we need to be.”

Harvard coach Katey Stone was pleased with the Crimson’s energy, defense and goal-scoring versatility. Harvard avoided playing down to Cornell’s level in preparation for the ECAC championships next weekend.

“We understand we’re going to be tested much more as we go along here,” Stone said. “The defensive end, and all the way up the ice, there’s going to be more pressure, but I think we’ve handled the pressure well all year.”

Advertisement

The Crimson’s ECAC semifinal game is against tournament host and defending champion Brown this Saturday at noon. If Harvard wins, it will play No. 4 Dartmouth or No. 9 Princeton in the championship, to be televised live on NESN, Sunday at noon.

Harvard 7, Cornell 0

The Big Red looked to rebound after Friday night’s defeat, but the rebounds were only going in one direction on Saturday—into the Cornell net.

Harvard scored five of its seven goals off rebounds, including its first four as it built a 4-0 lead midway through the second period. Botterill got the train rolling, banging home her own rebound after a breakaway attempt two minutes into the game.

Rebound goals from freshman phenom Julie Chu and captain Kalen Ingram gave the Crimson a 3-0 advantage after the first frame. Sophomore winger Nicole Corriero banged home a rebound midway through the second period to extend the lead to 4-0.

To mix things up a bit, junior captain defender Angela Ruggiero took matters into her own hands. Just 13 seconds after Corriero’s goal, the Patty Kazmaier finalist took the puck from center ice, swept by several defenders and beat Cornell goalie Sanya Sandahl to score unassisted.

Chu finished the scoring in the second period with her second rebound goal of the evening, which made it 6-0.

Botterill set up the game’s final goal. She found the puck in the corner and, skating away from the net, sent a perfect pass to Corriero waiting in the slot. Corriero’s shot sailed into the top right corner of the net at 2:05 of the third period.

The final 18 minutes of the game were scoreless, but they did feature some rough play from Cornell, particularly Big Red defenseman Allison Simpson, who displayed a penchant for hitting after the whistle in both games.

“In upcoming games it’s definitely going to be more physical,” Corriero said. “So I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we have to start dealing with rough and dirty players right now because that’s what we’re gonna be facing.”

Advertisement