Tri-captain Liza Ryabkina made a statement in the season opener, netting a pair of goals—including a slapshot with 14 seconds left in regulation to tie the game—as Harvard and Yale battled to a 3-3 tie on Friday night. The Crimson outshot the Bulldogs, 42-13, but struggled to find the back of the net thanks to the excellent play of Yale goaltender Erin Callahan.

There were 14 seconds on the clock when tri-captain Liza Ryabkina launched a laser of a shot from the left circle. And when the puck found the back of the net, Bright Hockey Center erupted in celebration.

But what felt like a game-winner was just a shot that let the No. 9 Harvard women’s hockey team escape with a tie in a game that should have been a win.

The Crimson slipped up in its season opener on Friday night, fighting back to a 3-3 tie with conference rival Yale (0-2-2, 0-1-1 ECAC).

“I felt that we shouldn’t have been in that position,” Ryabkina said of her last-second goal. “It felt great, but at the same time, we really wanted to win this game, so we were a little bit disappointed.”

Despite getting off more than three times as many shots as the Bulldogs, Harvard’s offense struggled to find the back of the net while the defense had trouble shutting down Yale’s few quality chances.

The Crimson got off to a strong start, putting six shots on goal before the Bulldogs could muster one. And when Yale goaltender Jackee Snikeris left the game eight minutes in with an injury—putting untested sophomore Erin Callahan in the cage—it seemed that Harvard had caught a break.

“We put a lot of pressure on them, and they did a really good job,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said. “Their goaltender did a great job stepping in—sometimes that infuses a lot of energy.”

And the Bulldogs channeled that energy towards getting on the scoreboard first.

On a power play generated by tri-captain Kate Buesser’s interference penalty, Yale senior Bray Ketchum fed a pass to rookie Jackie Raines, who cut across the ice and beat sophomore netminder Laura Bellamy on a shot from the right circle.

The Bulldogs’ first lead didn’t last long. Just over two minutes later, freshman Marissa Gedman hit senior Katharine Chute in transition. The winger juked past a few defenders before flicking the puck just inside the left post to knot the score at one.

Yale stormed back with 2:35 to play in the first with another power-play goal. Once again, the freshmen got it done for the Bulldogs, with Jennifer Lawrence finding the right side of the net off a pass from Aurora Kennedy.

Forty seconds later, sophomore Jillian Dempsey received a game misconduct penalty after laying a massive hit on Heather Grant from behind. Suddenly, Harvard was facing five straight minutes of penalty kill with one of its top forwards in the locker room.

“It was tough to lose Dempsey, but I thought we weathered that storm really well,” Stone said. “We made some adjustments, which is a testament to our depth.”

The defense tightened up during the kill, holding Yale scoreless despite a few good looks in front of the net early in the second period. Harvard then got its own opportunities on offense with a pair of long 5-on-3 advantages.

Though it failed to capitalize on the first, Ryabkina didn’t let the second chance slip away.