Junior Kate Buesser, shown here in earlier action, had an assist on Friday night, but the Crimson offense was shut down by Cornell. Defensive lapses gave the Big Red a 5-0 lead, and Cornell cruised to a 6-2 win and a trip to the Frozen Four.

For the No. 4 Harvard women’s hockey team, the season’s first weekend brought a loss to Cornell. And as it turns out, the last did as well.

The Crimson (20-8-5) suffered its worst loss of the season Friday night at Bright Hockey Center, falling behind early and dropping a 6-2 contest to the No. 5 Big Red (20-8-6) in the NCAA quarterfinals.

The loss ended Harvard’s season, while Cornell continues onto the Frozen Four in Minneapolis.

“I thought Harvard played really well,” said Big Red coach Doug Derraugh. “They were quick, they controlled a lot of the game…We got that 2-0 lead, once we got that I thought we started getting our feet and started playing better all over the ice and got a couple more.”

Despite holding a 36-18 shot advantage for the game, the Crimson could not capitalize on its many opportunities and allowed the Big Red to take the momentum through several key breakaway shots in the first period.

“They were in our zone a lot,” Derraugh said, “they were getting lots of shots. All the sudden we just put pucks in behind their defense and got lots of speed, and we got some really good opportunities, and we buried them.”

ECAC Player of the Year Catherine White opened scoring just 2:34 into the contest, taking a pass from Amanda Young and beating freshman goaltender Laura Bellamy.

Cornell doubled its lead four minutes later while shorthanded, as Big Red forward Karlee Overguard stole the puck and again caught Bellamy in an unprotected situation.

And Cornell used its two-score lead in the first to generate the necessary momentum to put the game away in the second.

Laura Fortino opened the floodgates on an odd-man rush at 6:42, putting a pass from Chelsea Karpenko past Bellamy. A pair of goals from Melanie Jue and Karpenko gave the Big Red three goals in three minutes—ending both Bellamy’s night and her team’s chance at a trip to Minneapolis.

Bellamy made six saves and allowed five goals in her 29:45 of play, the worst outing of the freshman’s career.

Though its five-goal deficit proved to be insurmountable, the Crimson kept at it. At 13:47 of the second, Harvard senior Randi Griffin received a pass from junior Kate Buesser right in front of the net on a power play and one-timed it home for the Crimson’s first goal of the night.

“We were trying to step up our game when we’re on the power play,” co-captain Kathryn Farni said. “[To] capitalize on that chance definitely picks up your spirits a little bit. I thought we played really hard, and we took a lot of great shots. To be rewarded for that felt awesome.”

But even the score could not spark a Harvard comeback, for in the 15th minute of the second period, the Big Red’s Kendice Ogilvie scored off a pretty feed from the corner from Karpenko—besting junior backup netminder Kylie Stephens and taking away any momentum the Crimson had regained.

It was the first time since February 2006 that Harvard had allowed six goals in a game.

“It got to a point where it was all about our effort and our execution and try to stay together and try to keep going as a team under some pretty adverse circumstances,” Crimson coach Katey Stone said.

Stone’s team played hard in the final period, outshooting the Big Red, 13-5, and controlling the puck for most of the frame. Harvard got one goal closer with seven minutes to play, as junior Leanna Coskren took a pass from co-captain Cori Bassett at the top of the zone and put a high shot into the back of the net.

But Cornell’s swarming defense and tough goaltender shut out the Crimson for the rest of the period, and the 6-2 lead was just too large to overcome.

“We are disappointed with the end result of tonight’s game, but certainly not disappointed with the effort of our players,” Stone said. “We got ourselves in a little bit of a hole and tried to dig ourselves out. It was one of the hardest fought, from start to finish, games that we’ve played all season.”

Though Harvard did not earn its sixth Frozen Four berth, the ECAC will still be represented in the national semifinals by the Big Red—a squad making its first-ever tournament appearance. Cornell will face No. 1 Mercyhurst on Friday in Minneapolis.

“Anytime an Ivy League team can go to the Frozen Four, it’s a great thing,” Stone said. “The ECAC is very strong, the Ivy League is very strong. Anytime you can keep putting great teams in the NCAA tournament, you’re doing the right thing.”