“Kessler played well tonight for us,” Stone said. “She was big in some pretty key spots…There was one post in the third period that was a little scary, but we didn’t give them awesome looks on the power play, which was really good.”

The third period proved to be a much more balanced affair.

Harvard came out on top in the shot count, 10-7, and rookie Kaitlin Spurling and senior Anna McDonald each had scoring opportunities, with McDonald hitting the pipe on a breakaway shot.

“We weren’t there on that second tier of attack,” Stone said. “Even though we were generating a lot of the offense, we weren’t there for the rebounds.”

But when junior Leanna Coskren was called for hooking with 1:35 to play in regulation, the Crimson gave New Hampshire a crucial opportunity.

Harvard’s penalty-kill unit stepped up once again, and the game headed into extra time.

“The shots were outside, which helped me a lot,” Kessler said. “I think that we played it perfectly.”

Five additional minutes wasn’t enough time to decide the contest—the Crimson and Wildcats each recorded two shots on net, but couldn’t break through Kessler or New Hampshire goalie Lindsay Minton.

And just as the Wildcats did at the end of regulation, Harvard squandered a key power-play opportunity in the final minutes of overtime.

New Hampshire junior Courtney Sheary spent the last 85 seconds of the game in the box for a hooking infraction, but the Crimson couldn’t muster a shot on goal.

It was yet another disappointment for the Harvard power-play unit, which has scored just two extra-man goals in seven games—good for just 27th in the nation.

“We’re getting better at it, but we’ve still got to have faith in each other that we can move the puck,” Stone said.

For the game, the Crimson outshot the Wildcats, 28-25, but in the end, it was another disappointing result from a close game against a top team.

“They’re a good team, they’re going to be in the hunt down the stretch, and they’re going to knock off some people,” Stone said. “But it’s just unfortunate because it would have been a real good win for us. It’s a decent tie, but it would have been a real good win.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.