Dartmouth women’s ice hockey (10-7-1, 6-6-1), scoreless through the first two periods, exploded for four goals in the third period to sink no. 5 Harvard University (12-3-2, 9-2-1), 4-2, on Saturday at Thompson Arena, extending its own win streak to four and severing Harvard’s 10-game win streak in the process. Additionally, the victory provided sweet revenge for Dartmouth, who had lost to Harvard earlier in the season.
“We knew that they were a good team,” Lindsey Allen ’16 said. “Coming into the new year, we’ve had a good couple of games, so we just had to keep that going and we knew if we were able to do that we’d be able to beat them.”
From the start of the first period, the Big Green kept control of the puck and pressured the Harvard defense. The teams traded possession back and forth with both getting some threatening shots off. Dartmouth was able to create several scoring chances, including a break -away chance by Samantha Zeiss ’15 that was saved by Harvard goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.
The Big Green successfully killed a two-minute power play after a slashing call against Allen, despite Harvard pressure on net, including a shot mishandled just shy of the net.
Harvard right wing Hillary Crowe broke through and opened the scoring with less than four minutes left in the first period.
Dartmouth could not equalize, despite out-shooting the Crimson 15 to 6 in the first period.
Dartmouth goalie Robyn Chemago ’17 attributed some of the difficulty in capitalizing on shots to the strength of the opponent’s goalie, saying Maschmeyer “kept them in the game.”
Neither team managed to score in the second period. Chemago made 11 saves in the second period, and would save 37 shots by the end of the game. Her counterpart, Maschmeyer, made 32 saves. Neither team managed to score in the second period.
“We were getting the chances all game, [but] they just weren’t going in for us yet,” Morgan Illikainen ’15 said. “We just knew once we got one [goal] there were going to be a couple more that got in. We just needed to get that first goal.”
Both teams picked up the intensity in the third period, increasing their physical play and aggression. Chemago was forced to make a save in the first 30 seconds.
“I think [during] the first couple minutes of the third [Harvard] definitely picked it up a notch,” Illikainen said. “We battled hard, and we figured our stuff out.”
Hungry for a goal, the Dartmouth offense worked to produce more scoring chances. Allen wrestled the puck free from a group and passed it to Kennedy Ottenbreit ’17 for a shot, which was blocked. Allen had another chance for a shot a minute later, but she was again stopped short by the Harvard goalie.
In the eighth minute of the third period, Karlee Odland ’15 forced a turnover in the neutral zone and was able to get the puck behind the net with the help of Zeiss. Odland centered the puck to a net-crashing Illikainen, who slammed the puck past Maschmeyer to even up the score at 1-1.
Two minutes later, Harvard’s Kalley Armstrong responded with her own goal, assisted by Sydney Daniels, to retake the lead for Harvard. Dartmouth would not stay behind for long, evening the score up again with six minutes left in the game off of a wrist shot from Allen, assisted by Illikainen for her second point of the night.
With the score at 2-2, Harvard’s Sydney Daniels was called for interfence, a penalty that would prove to turn the tide in Dartmouth’s favor..
Dartmouth converted its power play advantage. Center Brooke Ahbe ‘18 scored her first game-winner and her second collegiate goal with just over six minutes left in the game.
With 41 seconds left to play, Allen slid the puck into Harvard’s empty net for her second goal of the night, icing the victory for Dartmouth.
“It was good to get a win, especially against a good team like Harvard, and it gives us confidence,” Chemago said. “Today proved to us that if we play our game we can beat anyone in this league.”
The Big Green will take on Cornell University and Colgate University in Thompson on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
