DULUTH, Minn.—For the Harvard women’s hockey team, it was a bitterly disappointing end to one of the most amazing games and most incredible seasons in collegiate women’s hockey history. The No. 2 Crimson lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision in double overtime of the NCAA championship game to the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday.

At 4:19 of the second overtime, Duluth sophomore Nora Tallus, who had spent eight minutes in the penalty box over the course of the game, received the puck shortly after a faceoff in the Harvard zone and beat Crimson junior goaltender Jessica Ruddock glove-side on a perfect shot from the slot.

“I sit here very sad but also very proud,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said at the post-game press conference. “Obviously we did everything we could to try to win this game and we came up just a little short and they beat us with an absolutely perfect shot.”

It was a game of two evenly matched teams that truly showcased women’s college hockey at its highest level in front of a record sellout crowd of 5,167. The score remained 3-3 through the third period and first overtime. Though the Crimson outshot Duluth 44-41 overall and 16-13 during the extra periods, it was the Bulldogs who generated the better chances during overtime, forcing Ruddock to play her absolute best.

On more than one occasion in the first overtime period, the puck came loose in the Harvard crease, only to have Ruddock cover it up.

“Our goaltender played out of her mind,” Stone said. “She did everything that we’ve talked about all week.”

Both teams had their moments in Sunday’s championship, but the Crimson’s moments didn’t really occur until the second period.

Trailing 2-0 after the opening twenty minutes, the Crimson made it a new game in the second period. Twenty-one seconds after intermission, a lucky bounce gave Harvard captain Jennifer Botterill a break on net. That was all the Olympic goal medalist would need, as she fired a low shot to beat Duluth goalie Patricia Sautter stick side.

Botterill’s goal was enough to get the Crimson offense going. Twenty-three seconds later, Harvard tied the game. Sophomore winger Nicole Corriero came up with the puck in a scramble in front of the net. Her shot was stopped, but junior linemate Lauren McAuliffe was there to backhand home the loose puck.

The Crimson had a terrific chance to take the lead midway through the period when freshman phenom Julie Chu came in on a clear breakaway, but her shot deflected off the side of the post.

Harvard’s second line would give the Crimson the lead with five minutes remaining in the period. With the Crimson on the power play, sophomore defender Ashley Banfield passed the puck to captain Jamie Hagerman, who rifled a pass to Corriero in the slot. Just seconds after the power play expired, the sophomore sensation made no mistake, sliding the puck underneath Sautter for the score.

But a mistake in the defensive end would cost Harvard the lead. UMD forward Hanne Sikio handled an errant pass from Crimson captain Kalen Ingram behind the Harvard goal, brought the puck in front and poked it over Ruddock to tie the game at three late in the second period.

For the Crimson, it was a poor way to close out a period Harvard had dominated—in stark contrast to the first, when the Bulldogs controlled the game with their forechecking and took a 2-0 lead.

Duluth opened the scoring early in the first period, when Jenny Potter sent a pass from the point to Caroline Ouellette encroaching on net, who flicked it over Ruddock for the score.

UMD scored its second goal when a weak pass from Pamela Van Reesema was intercepted by Sikio, who came in on a breakaway and fired a shot past Ruddock.

The Crimson skaters were able to regroup and take the lead in the second period, a testament to their talent and resolve.

With five minutes to go in the third period, Crimson junior defender and captain Angela Ruggiero was called for a 2-minute interference penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. Harvard was thus forced to kill the two-minute penalty and play the next ten minutes, including five of overtime, without the best defenseman in the world. Yet through those ten minutes, the Crimson did more than hold its own, generating some fine chances. Freshman Jennifer Skinner did her part in replacing Ruggiero on defense for that span.

Indeed, all the players did their part, and none can be faulted for the loss.

“Before the second overtime our coaching staff was talking about it and we said whoever gets the bounce is going home with the trophy,” Duluth coach Shannon Miller said. “We obviously got the bounce.”

Botterill almost got the bounce four minutes before the game ultimately ended. Thirty-one seconds into the second overtime, Botterill fired a forceful shot on net and Ruggiero appeared to knock the puck from underneath Sautter’s pads into the net. After reviewing the play, the referee ruled that the whistle had blown before the puck was knocked in.

That was one among many missed opportunities for both sides during what was arguably the greatest women’s college hockey game ever played.

“All the girls are so appreciative of the kind of team that we've had and the effort we put forward tonight,” Botterill said. “It was a great hockey game to be a part of, and I think that obviously this evening we’re going to be a little disappointed for a little while. But I think with time we’ll realize what a special season this is. It was a great game. We’re very proud to have been a part of it.”

—Staff writer David Weinfeld can be reached at weinfeld@fas.harvard.edu.