Harvard Completes Sweep of McGill

Box score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Junior Sarah Vaillancourt and freshman Liza Ryabkina scored twice each and Jenny Brine also found the net to guide the No. 6 Harvard women's hockey team to a 5-3 exhibition win against McGill for the second straight day Saturday afternoon at Bright Hockey Center.

Harvard twice battled back from a goal down before taking the lead for good on Vaillancourt's second goal of the day and fourth of the weekend with less than four minutes remaining in the second period. Vaillancourt and Ryabkina each added an assist, while sophomore linemate Anna McDonald registered three helpers. Jasmine Sheehan scored twice for the Martlets.

Charline Labonte played a second straight strong game for McGill, the No. 2 team in Canada. She made 30 stops to give her a total of 66 in two weekend games. Harvard junior Brittany Martin made 15 saves in two periods of action, while freshman Kylie Stephens played the third period and made eight stops for her second straight solid performance.

Labonte and McGill withstood an early charge by the Crimson, which registered the first five shots of the game. Alessandra Lind-Kenny gave the Martlets their first lead of the weekend 11 minutes, 33 seconds into the game, working through a crowd in front of the net and scoring.

Brine, however, answered barely three minutes later. She collected the puck after senior Caitlin Cahow sent it up the left boards and went in for a shot on Labonte, who made the stop but left the puck alive behind her. Brine reached in and pushed it over the goal line as teammate Sarah Wilson also raced for it. Harvard held an 11-6 shot advantage in the first period.

Martin had the first highlight in an end-to-end second period, a big save nearly seven minutes in to keep the game tied. Sheehan, however, got back the lead for McGill, finishing off a series of nice passes on the Martlet power play and putting a shot over Martin's glove at the 12:24 mark.

Harvard again had an answer, this time from Ryabkina less than two minutes later. Less than two more minutes had elapsed when Ryabkina got the puck to Vaillancourt in the left corner and the junior skated across the zone, waited for an opening and scored from in front of the right post to make it 3-2, Harvard. Martin made another tough save in the final seconds and cleared the rebound away from an onrushing Martlet. The Crimson outshot McGill, 17-11, in the period.

Vaillancourt gave Harvard a two-goal lead three minutes into the final period, winning a faceoff to McDonald and then putting away the rebound of McDonald's shot. Sheehan's second goal made it 4-3, Harvard, at 7:34, and Stephens kept it that way until the final minutes. She made and outstanding glove save at 12:26, snagging a backhand shot by Shauna Denis skating across the goalmouth.

Ryabkina put the game out of reach with just over a minute left. Freshman Leanna Coskren broke the puck out to McDonald, who found Ryabkina. The Ukraine native shot high over Labonte's blocker for her third tally of the weekend. McGill outshot Harvard by a 9-7 margin in the third period, and Harvard had a 35-26 edge in that category for the game.

The Crimson begins its regular season Nov. 2, when it hosts Quinnipiac at 7 p.m.