Senior goaltender Laura Bellamey made 28 saves on the night, recorder her 15th career shutout, and the No. 9 Harvard women’s ice hockey team downed Quinnipiac on their home ice Friday night by the final of 2-0.
Late in the first period, Quinnipiac forward Nicole Costa fired a back-hand shot towards the net, but Bellamy made a glove save.
With 1:38 remaining in the period, only 17 seconds later, Harvard’s Jillian Dempsey netted a power play goal from out in front of the net on the other end to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead headed into the first intermission. Mary Parker had the assist.
Quinnipiac players had four penalties on the night to Harvard’s one.
“You can’t give a player like Dempsey a great opportunity on a power play like that or she will bury it,” Quinnipiac head coach Rick Seeley said afterwards. “We knew their best players coming in, and our defense did a good job of stopping them. We just can’t have those penalties. In the past, our strength has been not taking penalties, and it cost us tonight.”
Harvard then matched their first period goal with one in the second. With only three seconds remaining, Hillary Crowe scored on the second assist of the game from Parker.
Quinnipiac goalkeeper Victoria Vigilanti made 20 saves on the night, but suffered her first loss of the season. Kelly Babstock led the Bobcats with six shots on net, while Erica Uden Johansson had five.
“A great part of our team’s maturation process is not getting down after goals,” Seeley said. “ We didn’t play well against Syracuse, but I thought we fought back hard and played well tonight. I’m proud of our team. We didn’t crumble when they scored. I thought it was our best effort of the year.”
The Bobcats now hold a 2-12-1 all-time record against Harvard. Their two wins, however, have come within the past two seasons.
In the last three years, Harvard is now 47-1-2 after leading through two periods.
Quinnipiac looks to grab their first conference victory of the season on Saturday afternoon when they host Dartmouth at the High Point Solution Center at the TD Bank Sports Center. Puck-drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.
“Dartmouth has always been successful, they just have that tradition,” Seeley said. “We just have to be able to capitalize on our chances tomorrow.”
