Junior Samantha Reber earned two assists on the night as the Crimson went on the road and beat Cornell, 3-1.

On Saturday, the Harvard women’s hockey team finally broke through. The No. 5/6 Crimson beat No. 3 Cornell in Ithaca for the first time since the 2008-09 season. Junior captain Marissa Gedman scored the deciding goal in the second period and sophomore Mary Parker tallied an empty-netter late in the contest to seal a 3-1 victory.

Harvard (14-2-2, 10-2-1 ECAC) now sits first in the ECAC standings after failing to garner a first-place vote in the preseason coaches’ poll.

“All season people have talked about the adversity we faced, but the confidence in ourselves is unwavering,” Gedman said. “Now people are seeing the teams we are beating and they are starting to respect us as much as we respect ourselves.”

The win is particularly energizing for a team that had a slow start to 2014. The Crimson lost to Yale last weekend and had to come from behind on Friday to beat a Colgate squad that is 5-17-2 on the year.

“We are just proving how good we can be,” Harvard coach Maura Crowell said. “It’s been a tough start to the new year here and there, clearly Friday night as well, but they got together and showed what they are capable of [on Saturday].”

Gedman’s goal was her most impactful in two years, if not more. Her only other two scores this season came in blowout wins and she missed all of last year with a leg injury.  The defender got the tally on Saturday by redirecting a pass from junior Samantha Reber to break a 1-1 tie in the second period.

The pass to Gedman was Reber’s second assist of the day, as she had previously fed sophomore Miye D’Oench, who gave the Crimson an early 1-0 lead in the first by threading a shot past Cornell goaltender Lauren Slebodnick nearside. The Big Red (14-2-3, 9-1-2) found an answer before the end of the period, however, as Anna Zorn redirected a shot past sophomore goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.

Cornell failed to muster a response to Gedman’s goal though. The home team outshot Harvard, 12-6, in the second period and 13-6 in the third, but could not get a second attempt past Maschmeyer. The Big Red had been held to one goal in just two of its previous 25 games.

“We had great games out of all our defensemen, especially Gedman,” Crowell said. “[Junior Sarah Edney and Gedman] set the tone back there. They are really experienced defenseman who acted that way.”

Holding onto a 2-1 advantage for almost all of the third period, Harvard relied on its experience to prevent its lead from slipping, Gedman said. The Crimson lost two leads in a 3-3 tie with Cornell in November and also let Boston College salvage a tie with a late goal in the squads’ December matchup.

“It’s happened in the past and we know what it feels like to lose that lead,” Gedman said. “We knew we just had to bear down for a couple more minutes.”

Crowell noticed that her skaters were more confident with the puck in the final moments on Saturday than they had been in previous close games.

“It’s awesome to get the win this time, not the tie,” she said.

In addition to beating the team’s biggest rival in a venue no member of the squad had won in before, Saturday’s victory is significant because of its implications on ECAC standings.

Harvard now has 21 points in conference to Cornell’s 20 (Clarkson and Quinnipiac are in third with 18), though the Big Red has a game in hand. A Crimson win Saturday was crucial for its hopes of playing at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center late in the ECAC Tournament. Cornell has hosted the tournament final for four straight years, and beat Harvard at Lynah Rink, 2-1, last season.

“We needed that win because we needed the points,” Gedman said. “There was definitely a lot of fuel for our fire tonight.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @jacobfeldman4.