Sophomore goaltender Brittany Martin posted 19 saves in Harvard's Game 1 victory against Yale, allowing just one goal as the Crimson took a 1-0 series lead. Martin kept Harvard in the game as the Bulldogs netminder recorded save after save in the first tw

The Harvard women’s hockey team took its first step towards a fourth consecutive ECAC title, defeating Yale at home on Friday by a score of 3-1. The sixth-ranked Crimson put itself in prime position to advance to the next round of the ECAC Tournament, beating the Bulldogs in the first game of a best-of-three series.

“I thought we did a lot of really good things today,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “I still believe we can do some things better…but I’m pleased with our resilience down the stretch.”

The Crimson showed that resiliency after two periods of stagnant play left the two teams found themselves tied, 1-1. Stone gave an inspiring speech in the locker room during the intermission, highlighting the need to stop Yale’s momentum in the offensive zone.

“I just said, ‘You know what? You want to be a Division I hockey player, you want to play at this level—those are the kinds of things that you have to be able to control,’” she said. “I just personally think we can do a better job at grinding it out and I said to them, ‘Fight through it. Fight through it.’ We don’t talk about dancing through it. We talk about fighting through it because it’s hard.”

Harvard responded immediately, scoring two quick goals at the beginning of the third period to go ahead for good.

The first score came just over one minute into the third. Crimson co-captain Julie Chu one-timed a pass from sophomore Sarah Vaillancourt and sent the puck flying towards the net. The shot hit sophomore Sarah Wilson and fell at her feet. With her back to the net and a defender behind her, Wilson backhanded the puck past Bulldogs goalie Shivon Zilis.

“Team first,” Wilson said about taking the shot to the gut. “It dropped in front of me and I just swung at it and put it in.”

A minute later, Harvard cushioned its lead, as senior Katie Johnston made a pass to a charging Kathryn Farni. The freshman put the puck home for the Crimson’s final goal of the game and her second score of the season.

Harvard started the game relentlessly attacking the net, but outstanding play in net by Zilis kept the squad scoreless throughout the first period. At times, Zilis looked more like a first baseman than a goalie, snatching several shots out of the air with her glove.

“She’s keeping them in the game for a lot longer than if you didn’t have a goalie like that,” Stone said. “I thought we had a lot of great chances early on in the game. It’s just that she was tough in the net.”

The Crimson eventually broke through for a score eight minutes into the second period, taking advantage of a power play. Wilson found co-captain Jennifer Sifers behind the net, who then passed to Johnston at the far post for the goal.

“We’ve been putting a lot of practice into that power play and it’s starting to come together for us,” Wilson said.

With five minutes to go in the second, the Bulldogs tied the score. The Harvard goalie, sophomore Brittany Martin, dropped the puck after making a glove save on a Helen Resor slap shot. Yale’s Crysti Howser came in on the rebound and buried the loose puck.

It was Martin’s only mishap of the game, and she would recover to finish with 19 saves on 20 shots.

“You have to be resilient and come back strong and show your team you can do it,” Martin said.

The score remained tied until the third period, when the Crimson put the game away for good, giving itself a one-game lead in the series.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.