Harvard freshman Hillary Crowe, shown here in previous action, tallied a power-play goal in the second period to cut the Crimson’s deficit to just one goal, but host Cornell scored two more in the final frame to pull away to a 5-3 win Saturday evening in Ithaca, N.Y., to hand Harvard its first loss.

With just seven minutes and 23 seconds remaining in Saturday evening’s contest, Harvard junior Kaitlin Spurling scored a game-tying goal to bring the No. 10 Crimson women’s hockey team (3-1, 3-1 ECAC) dead even with a No. 2 Cornell squad (5-1, 4-1 ECAC) that has had its number for the past two years.

Eight seconds later, the status quo was back in place, and the Big Red continued on to a 5-3 win over visiting Harvard in Ithaca, N.Y.

“I know we were really excited,” said freshman forward Sarah Edney of tying things up. “It was a matter of holding on. It was a little discouraging that they came back so quickly.”

Cornell had charged out to an early lead with two power-play goals in the first 10 minutes of the night.

Big Red freshman Jillian Saunier drew first blood, capitalizing on a cross-ice pass from sophomore Alyssa Gagliardi.

A minute and a half later, Cornell senior Chelsea Karpenko made it a 2-0 Big Red lead off an feed from classmate Catherine White.

Eight minutes later, Edney put the Crimson on the board.

The goal wasn’t technically a power-play score, as the slashing penalty on Gagliardi had expired three seconds earlier, but Edney scored before Cornell had a chance to reassemble for five-on-five hockey.

It was the rookie’s first collegiate goal. Classmate Hilary Crowe picked up her first collegiate point with an assist on the play, and sophomore forward Kalley Armstrong also assisted.

“It was a matter of responding,” Edney said.

After the Big Red’s 14-10 shot advantage in the first period helped it post a 2-1 lead, the second period was more evenly distributed.

Cornell took seven shots to Harvard’s six, and the teams scored one goal apiece in the frame.

Once again, the Big Red struck first, this time off a rebound.

Crimson junior goaltender Laura Bellamy had been able to stop a shot from Gagliardi, but Cornell’s White grabbed the loose puck and stuff it into the net to push the Big Red’s lead back to two and score Cornell’s first non-power-play goal.

In the first period, Harvard and the Big Red had three and two penalties, respectively, but the second frame was much cleaner.