Badger outburst chills Crimson

Season, title search ends for No. 1 Harvard women’s hockey team following 4-1 setback in Frozen Four

By Andrew Brooks

Harvard News Office

In NCAA semifinal action on Thursday evening (March 20), the University of Wisconsin more than lived up to its nickname against the No. 1 Harvard women’s hockey team. Over the latter two periods in this Frozen Four contest at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center in Minnesota, the fourth-seeded Badgers also pestered, hounded, and ultimately overwhelmed the favored Crimson club to score a 4-1 upset, ending Harvard’s remarkable 21-game win streak and national title aspirations. With the loss, the Harvard program — making its seventh appearance in the women’s tournament since 2001 — finishes this season’s campaign at 32-2-0.

Harvard is now 1-4-0 all-time against the reigning national champion Badgers, who handed the Crimson a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in quadruple overtime in the NCAA quarterfinals a season ago. The Badgers, meanwhile, improve to 29-8-3 to advance to the finals on Saturday (March 22) against the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Back in Duluth, the Crimson got off to a promising start when Jenny Brine ’09 tallied a power-play goal to give her team a 1-0 edge a little over five minutes into the first period. The junior, accepting a pass from classmate Kati Vaughn, lifted the puck past goaltender Jessie Vetter through traffic to earn her 20th goal of the season. On the defensive end, meanwhile, Harvard consistently frustrated Wisconsin’s front line throughout the period, effectively disrupting passes in the Crimson zone and clearing rebounds. Sophomore netminder Christina Kessler — pacing the nation in goals-against average (.97) and save percentage (.956) — recorded 11 saves in the opening stanza to preserve the single-goal advantage.

Wisconsin quickly set the tone for the rest of the game, however, with an even-strength goal a mere 18 seconds into the middle frame. Five-foot forward Erika Lawler sparked the turnaround with an assisted tally from behind the goal line. A little over two minutes later, Wisconsin’s Jasmine Giles sent a one-timer past Kessler to give her team a 2-1 lead. The Badgers sustained their momentum with 6:56 left in the period when Jinelle Zaugg buried a wide-open shot in front of the net to increase the advantage to two goals. All told, the three-goal barrage spanned just seven minutes. It also marked just the second time this season that Harvard had given up that many goals.

Late in the middle period, Harvard got a golden opportunity to play catch-up when Wisconsin’s Emily Morris was called for checking from behind, setting up a Crimson power play opportunity. The Cambridge women responded with a commanding series of shots on goal, but the Badgers were impressive on the penalty kill, weathering the episode unscathed to preserve the 3-1 advantage.

Meanwhile, between the pipes, Vetter — who ranks fifth in the nation with a 1.46 overall goals-against average — recorded 13 saves in the middle period to frustrate the Harvard cause. She collected 33 on the evening.

Despite the deficit, Harvard stayed aggressive in the third period, firing off a game-high 14 shots on goal through the final 20 minutes of play. Yet following Zaugg’s second goal just 3:15 into the third to bring the tally to 4-1, the Crimson effort appeared a bit rattled and unfocused – a sentiment coach Katey Stone recognized. “We felt like we were in it, probably all the way until it was 4-1, and then things got a little darker for us,” she said.

Stone added, “Unfortunately we didn’t play our best hockey today and that’s disappointing, but there were a lot of bright moments in the game for us — a lot of effort and a lot of hustle and that’s what we’re about. A lot of things to carry us into the future.”

Perhaps not the consolation the coach was looking to count on, if any. But it shouldn’t be discounted either. After all, just two seniors on Harvard’s active roster will be lost to graduation this June. And Crimson fans might take heart in the fact that the 2009 Frozen Four will be held a bit closer to home. Next year’s semis and finals will be hosted by Boston University.