Co-captain Angela Ruggiero was blanketed by the Princeton defense in Harvard's 2-0 victory yesterday, forcing her to play low.

For 59:53, Love conquered all.

Slapshots, backhands, wristers, one-timers—it made no difference. Despite throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Yale goalie Sarah Love Saturday night at Bright Hockey Center, the No. 3 Harvard women’s hockey team was unable to squeeze anything past her.

Then, with a mere seven seconds left in regulation and the score knotted at zero, junior Nicole Corriero decided that overtime was simply not an option.

Granted a four-on-three advantage with 0:23 remaining, Harvard (24-3-1, 14-3-0 ECAC) took control of the puck in the Bulldogs’ zone.

From the point, co-captain Angela Ruggiero passed to sophomore Julie Chu at the right post.

Chu’s first effort—like every other Crimson attempt on the afternoon—was rebuffed by Love. But this time, Corriero managed to pounce on the rebound and backhand it past the sprawling Yale netminder to end an afternoon of frustration.

“[Chu] had just thrown it to the net and somehow the puck had gotten deflected or stopped and I just got my stick on it,” Corriero said.

“Usually I would just throw it right on the net, but this time I realized that if I shot it right on the net [Love would] probably be able to stop it. So I just tried to move her to my backhand and put it high and it worked.”

For the Bulldogs (12-13-3, 8-9-0), it was the 41st straight defeat at Harvard’s hands, including a 5-1 loss to the Crimson this January.

But despite its ignominious history, Yale—and Love in particular—played Harvard tight and stingy for almost the entire game, keeping the Crimson offense in check and the Harvard fans on tenterhooks with every shot and successive save.

A loss or tie to the Bulldogs would have severely torpedoed the Crimson’s playoff plans, possibly costing the squad the ECAC regular season title and a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

“Did we dominate the game in one sense? Yes, but they were never out of it,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone.

Through from the outset Harvard had almost exclusive control of the puck, the team was slow to find its rhythm.

“I think we could start a lot faster,” Corriero said. “In general, when we don’t score right away, we let a goalie get in her groove and that causes us to have more and more problems to score on her.”

Nevertheless, it seemed inevitable that the intense battery against the Yale defense would find its mark. Corriero had six shots on goal in the first period alone, while Ruggiero had nine in the second period and finished with 12 overall.