Harvard coach Katey Stone, in her 16th year behind the Crimson bench, tallied her 338th career victory on Friday, setting a new NCAA Division 1 all-time record.

For the Harvard women’s hockey team, Friday night’s win was doubly important. Not only did it get the Crimson one step closer to the NCAA Tournament, but it also put Harvard coach Katey Stone one step closer to the top of her profession.

The No. 4 Crimson (20-6-5) scored four goals in the opening 15 minutes of play to cruise to a 5-1 playoff victory over Princeton (13-14-4) at Bright Hockey Center—the 338th career win for Stone, who became the all-time winningest coach in NCAA women’s hockey history.

“It’s great,” junior Kate Buesser said. “[Stone’s] probably the most competitive of anybody on our team, so it’s good to see her get in front there.”

Stone was honored by athletic director Bob Scalise in a postgame ceremony. The win pushed her one victory ahead of former Colby and Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson for the career lead.

“It means a lot to me,” Stone said. “And for our kids to play well—that was the most important thing. Our kids, they were on tonight, and that makes me very proud.”

Harvard’s quick start ensured that Stone’s big win was never in doubt.

After the Tigers were whistled for having too many players on the ice just 43 seconds into the contest, the Crimson set up on its power play.

It took nearly the entire two minutes of advantage to break through the Princeton defense, but with five seconds left on the penalty, junior Liza Ryabkina one-timed a pass from freshman Kelsey Romatoski past Tiger goaltender Rachel Weber.

Once Harvard got rolling, it couldn’t be stopped.

Five minutes later, senior Randi Griffin continued her recent offensive tear, scooping up a loose puck and putting a shot just past Weber’s extended leg for the 2-0 lead.

“It’s just a matter of, I think, working hard,” Griffin said. “I don’t know if it’s confidence or what, maybe just luck—you roll the dice enough times, they start going in.”

Ryabkina pushed the lead to 3-0 less than a minute later. Weber reached out to try to smother a shot from freshman Jillian Dempsey, but couldn’t get a glove on it. Ryabkina chipped the shot over the flattened Weber to light the lamp again.

All three goals came before Princeton got a shot on net.

“That looked like the US-Finland game earlier today,” Stone said. “That’s how you start, and that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to break the opponent’s spirit in playoff hockey.”

The Crimson made it 4-0 with five minutes to play in the first period. Just after Harvard had successfully killed off a tripping penalty, Dempsey won a faceoff in the offensive zone. She passed the puck back to Buesser, whose shot from the high slot soared through traffic and into the net.