Harvard Advances to Beanpot Final
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BOSTON -- Junior Jenny Brine scored twice and freshmen Liza Ryabkina and Katherine Chute collected assists to lead No. 1 Harvard to a 3-1 victory over Northeastern in the opening round of the 30th Women's Beanpot Tuesday at Walter Brown Arena.
Harvard (20-1-0) found itself down 1-0 less than a minute into the game when Northeastern's Katy Applin hit teammate Lindsay Berman with a pass for a power-play goal at 0:42. Berman knuckled a shot from in front that slipped past Crimson goaltender Christina Kessler.
The Crimson battled back to tie the contest only minutes later at 2:58 as the team notched its own power-play tally. Ryabkina slid the puck to Cori Bassett who took a slap shot from the middle of the blue line. Northeastern goalie Leah Sulyma turned aside Bassett's attempt, but the puck rebounded directly to Brine. The junior forward turned and fired the puck into the net for her 11th goal of the season.
The Crimson continued to put pressure on the Huskies for the remainder of the period and led 17-4 in shots entering the first intermission.
At 7:40 of the second period, Brine and Chute took consecutive shots from in front, and for the second time of the evening, Brine scored off of a rebound as she slid the puck underneath Sulyma. Katherine Chute picked up an assist on the play as Harvard gained a 2-1 lead.
With eight minutes remaining in the frame, Chute had a point-blank shot from the right side, but Sulyma slid over in time to make the save. The Crimson also hit two posts in the second period as Kathryn Farni and Sarah Vaillancourt just missed on their attempts for Harvard.
In eight minutes remaining in the third, Northeastern had a chance to knot the game, but Kristi Kehoe's shot from just inside the left circle went over the top of the net.
Harvard added an insurance tally at 18:40 when Sarah Vaillancourt picked up her team-leading 13th goal on passes from Anna McDonald and Sarah Wilson.
The Crimson finished the game with a 50-19 advantage in shots. Kessler turned away 18 shots for the Crimson to earn her 19th victory, while Sulyma made 47 saves in net for the Huskies.
Harvard's power play finished 1 of 5, while Northeastern (5-17-3) was 1 of 4 with an extra-attacker.
Harvard improves to 39-19 overall in the Beanpot and 12-14 against Northeastern in the tournament.
The Crimson will look to capture its 12th Beanpot championship against the winner of Boston College and Boston University Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 8 p.m. at Walter Brown Arena.
First, Harvard hosts Union and Rensselaer in ECAC matchups at Bright Hockey Center Friday and Saturday to close out the regular-season portion of its home schedule. Saturday afternoon's game against the Engineers will serve as Senior Day for Harvard's Laura Brady, Caitlin Cahow, Jessica MacKenzie and Brenna McLean.
Also this weekend, the Crimson will wear special specially designed pink jerseys for Pink At The Rink, a newly created variation of the traditional Coaches vs. Cancer program. The game-worn jerseys will then be auctioned on-line to raise funds in support of the American Cancer Society's lifesaving cancer research, education, advocacy, and community service efforts.
