“We did a good job of rebounding as compared to [Friday night],” Corriero said. “That helped Ali [Boe] out, and she came through for us and played great.”

“Our defense was very solid—just where we want it to be,” McAuliffe added. “Things started to click better as the game went on.”

Though the Crimson was able to break a bad habit of not clearing the puck from within its own zone, Harvard could not shake the penalty calls. Out of the 14 total minutes for which the Crimson was penalized, 12 came in the final frame of action.

“There was a stretch when players were taking shots at [Boe], and we were just defending our goalie,” Corriero said. “We had four players in the box at one time, but since they were coincidental it didn’t make a big difference. When it comes to protecting your goalie, you expect to do some things to make sure the other team knows that no one can treat your goalie like that.”

Princeton 6, Harvard 3

With just 1:39 gone by in the first period, while on the penalty kill, Ruggiero fired a shot from center ice off a Chu face-off win. The puck took an awkward bounce past the Tigers’ goalie, Megan Van Beusekom, for a shorthanded goal.

The Crimson would have no such luck for the remainder of the game; in fact, the balance always seemed to shift in Princeton’s (12-5-0, 5-3-0 ECAC) favor.

Nor would Ruggiero skate as freely as she had in the opening moments during the rest of the game. The Tigers’ defenders, as well as the game’s referees, shadowed Ruggerio, and the Tigers benefited from the results.

With a minute left in the game, three Princeton defenders surrounded Ruggiero in front of the Tigers’ net. When all was said and done, Ruggiero headed to the sin bin penalized two minutes for roughing with Princeton’s Chrissie Norwich, and was given a 10-minute misconduct as well.

The episode reflected Harvard’s larger struggle in the game.

“It was tough to get a decent flow because of penalties being called against us and [the Tigers],” Corriero said. “That made it hard to build any type of momentum.”

“There were a couple of moments we started to get momentum and got off a few shots on goal,” she added. “But we had a 5-3 advantage and couldn’t capitalize. The chances were there. We just weren’t burying the puck. If we had, the game would have been completely different.”

Following the Crimson’s initial goal, Princeton’s youth struck early and often. Freshman Kim Pearce scored an assist and two goals, while fellow classmate Liz Keady notched a pair of her own, all within the first two periods of the game.

Julie Chu led the Harvard attack, assisting on each of the three Crimson goals.

Behind 4-3 headed into the third period, Harvard was unable to overcome its rusty play and lapsing defense, allowing the deficit to swell to three.