Sophomore Julie Chu, seen in earlier action, filled in at the back when co-captain Angela Ruggiero was tossed from Harvard's loss to Dartmouth.

While Dartmouth’s Gillian Apps celebrated with her teammates after her game-winning goal with 1:15 left in the game, sophomore Ali Boe threw the puck out of the goal in disgust.

It was the moment Dartmouth fought to realize—and the moment Harvard fought to prevent—all third period.

After an epic battle—which included fireworks that sent Crimson’s co-captain Angela Ruggiero into the locker room early and saw No. 1 Harvard fight back to tie the game after being down two goals—Apps put the nail in the coffin, beating Boe off a faceoff in Harvard’s zone and giving No. 3 Dartmouth a 3-2 victory in the closing minutes at Thompson Arena in Hanover, N.H.

“We showed a lot of pride in our team, showed our depth, showed what we have, and just came up short,” said Crimson co-captain Lauren McAuliffe.

The loss dropped Harvard to 22-3-1 (12-3-0 ECAC) while Dartmouth improved to 19-5-2 (11-3-1).

Just over twelve and a half minutes into the second period, emotions stopped running high and started hitting hard.

Dartmouth’s Katherine Weatherston skated in to levy a hit on Ruggiero when the Crimson blueliner knocked her down in front of the Big Green’s bench. In her struggle to skate free, Ruggiero appeared to kick the opposing player in the head with her skate.  

In retaliation, Dartmouth’s Alana BreMiller cross-checked Ruggiero to the ice as the latter skated away from Weatherston. At that point, a number of players began yelling at each other as Weatherston lay on the ice, and a visibly frustrated Ruggiero attempted to convince the referee to let her stay in the game.

“You certainly know there’s potential for some tempers to be up and emotions to go—it’s just unfortunate,” said Dartmouth coach Mark Hudak.

Ultimately, the referees assessed a kicking penalty and a game disqualification to Ruggiero, while Weatherston eventually got up and came back later in the game.

Throughout the game, the 1,555 fans made themselves heard with numerous chants, peaking in enthusiasm in the final minutes leading up to Dartmouth’s game-winning goal.

However, the loudest crowd response came during the delay following Ruggiero’s penalty, with the crowd chanting for her to be thrown out of the game, then cheering as she was told to leave the ice.

Right off the bat, Harvard felt the absence of its defensive anchor as Dartmouth emerged from the sideshow with a 4-3 advantage and capitalized on the situation. Sara Clark scored the powerplay goal as she took a hard slap shot from the left circle which deflected off Lydia Wheatley and right past Boe into the net.

But after the Crimson managed to fight back into the game, the Big Green needed another one to beat Harvard.

Apps–15 seconds after a stay in the sin bin–received the face off at the side of the right offensive circle and wove in behind the Crimson players and across the goal to put the puck right in for the decisive goal.