“The puck kind of popped out right to where I was skating into, and I had a clear shot to the net and just tried to get one off quickly,” McDonald said. “It worked out so well. It was like this gift just waiting there for me.”

Sophomore forward Miye D’Oench got the scoring started for Harvard halfway through the first period. With the Crimson on the power play, D’Oench received a pass from junior Sami Reber in front of the net and quickly tapped the puck in past Moore to give Harvard the early lead.

“It was pretty relieving,” said D’Oench of the early goal. “Especially because we haven’t been all that great on the power play, so to get a power play goal was a big confidence booster. And then once we get one goal, having [Maschmeyer] behind you, you always feel pretty good about that.”

Despite the early score, the Crimson showed no signs of letting up as the period continued. After a save by Moore, sophomore Dylanne Crugnale scooped up the loose puck and snuck it past Moore to put Harvard up, 2-0, off her sixth goal of the season.

Brown came out stronger after the first break, leading to a track meet atmosphere as the teams skated up and down the ice throughout the second period. Despite both squads getting off eight shots on goal, neither team was able to get much offense going and finished the second period with Harvard still up two goals to none.

“Usually we move through the neutral zone with a lot of speed and puck possession, and when they have the puck, we usually can get them to turn it over,” Crowell said. “We’re trying to clean up our neutral zone a little bit better; just getting back to simple plays in the neutral zone, not trying to be so cute with the puck.”

Now at the midpoint of the 2013-14 season, the Crimson is looking forward to continuing to improve and building on the gains they’ve made in recent games.

“So far this year haven’t played our absolute best, and I thought this game changed that, so that’s really huge for us,” D’Oench said. “I think we’re definitely moving the right way for 2014.”

—Staff writer Glynis Healey can be reached at ghealey@college.harvard.edu.