By this point in the game, Harvard appeared to be finally worn down by having only three defenders, with Dartmouth keeping the puck in its offensive zone and throwing shot after shot at Boe.

“They were playing their two lines a lot,” Hudak said. “We were able to get our third line in there more often and allow our first and second line to rest some. I thought our third line did a great job out there tonight and I think they realize at times that’s their role—to go out there, play defense, not allow the other team to score, give the other lines a breather so they can get back on deck and put a lot of pressure on.”

At the end of the second period, McAuliffe turned the Crimson back in the right direction by drawing two late periods penalties.

Late in the frame, McAuliffe had the puck deep in Dartmouth’s zone off of a turnover.  Her shot—which pasted the goalie—appeared to entered the goal before being swept out and saved by a Big Green defender.  The referees did not call the play a goal, eliciting cries from the Harvard bench.

Nevertheless, the Crimson entered the locker room down by two goals, needing to score quickly to put themselves back in the game.

Once again, McAuliffe provided them that boost.

Harvard came out in the third more relaxed—after having a break to cool down—and with an advantage that they were able to turn into to two quick goals.

“That kind of fueled that fire a bit, once you lose a player like [Ruggiero],” McAuliffe said. “We were just fired up we came out so strong. We played our hearts out that whole third period.”

With a one-man advantage, McAuliffe continued to lead the charge-passing the puck to a streaking Banfield who made Harvard’s first goal happen.

After receiving the puck, Banfield drove down behind the red line and then passed it pack out to junior forward Nicole Corriero on the other side of the net.  Corriero banged it home to bring Harvard back into the game.

A few minutes later, sophomore Julie Chu—who moved back to fill the void created by Ruggiero’s disqualification—ran through the defense on the left side of the ice, and then from almost the side of the rink, passed the puck all the way to right in front of the net on the opposite side, hitting Raimondi for the put-in.

“We’re not a one-person team,” Stone said. “We showed that tonight and you know what? We won a lot of big things tonight.”

In the first period, Harvard came out slow, like with its previous Friday night affair against St. Lawrence, looking a bit sluggish and allowing Dartmouth a few good chances right in front of the net.

Clark’s first period goal came on one of these plays—with Weatherston slicing the defense by sending the puck right through in front of the net and catching the cutter for the goal.

As the game went, on Harvard seemed to step up its level of play in response to the early push by Dartmouth.  By the third period—when the score was knotted at two—the Crimson had taken over the lead in shots on goal, reflective of their offensive pressure.