Even when she wasn’t scoring Friday night, Vaillancourt was generating the Crimson’s offense in other ways.

Early in the first period, she got within point-blank range of St. Lawrence goalie Jess Moffat firing two shots on net before drawing a penalty from Saints’ defenseman Laurie Ross at 5:27. Just over a minute later, Corriero converted on the ensuing power play to give Harvard its first goal of the game at 6:29 in the third period.

When glancing at Vaillancourt campaigning down the ice on an offensive drive, it almost seemed like a field commander leading the cavalry into battle—and winning. The real significance of her performance and the numbers she tallied Friday night is not simply in the raw skill and ability she displayed, however, but in what the Crimson has been searching for throughout the season: an alternative means of offense to Corriero.

While both Vaillancourt and Chu have accumulated impressive offensive numbers—fifth and seventh nationally in points per game—there is no question that Harvard has all too often had to rely upon Corriero to provide the scoring punch in the offense. Friday night, Vaillancourt made opponents think twice about paying most of their attention to any one of the Crimson’s first line.

“I'm just really happy and proud of my team going in final,” Vaillancourt said. “Great if I

scored a hat trick, but I didn't do it for my stats or anything like that. I just did it for my team.”

—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.