BOSTON — After a thrilling 3-2 win in the 2015 Beanpot tournament against Boston College, Harvard came into Tuesday night’s game in a completely different position — trying to salvage a third-place finish in the tournament after being decimated by BC in the first round 8-0.
The Crimson were able to salvage third place.
After being rattled by two quick Maddie Elia goals, the Crimson came back and beat Boston University 5-3 on a late Sydney Daniels goal.
“It is certainly nice to sit here a week later [from the first round] after a better Harvard hockey effort,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “I think we all had a blast in tonight’s game, had a very different energy. Right from the beginning of the game, had a very different energy, right from the beginning of the game, regardless of the score.”
The first inklings of trouble for the Crimson came early. A turnover in the corner led Elia to the bottom edge of the faceoff circle to Emerance Maschmeyer’s right side. Elia fired a shot from the tough angle and beat Maschmeyer to give the Terriers the early 1-0 lead.
Elia struck again moments later. Starting from a similar place to her first goal, she tried a different tact. Elia came from the red line across Maschmeyer’s crease. With Maschmeyer unable to keep up with Elia’s speed, Elia fired a shot around Maschmeyer into the net to give the Terriers the 2-0 lead.
“You always want to start quick,” BU coach Brian Durocher said. “I thought that could be a momentum thing for them, and a demoralizing thing for Harvard because they had to be a little bit tired, and [Elia] made a marvelous shot in the first one, and Elia used her size and her hands and her reach to kind of freeze a great goaltender, and be able to tuck it in on the far side.”
Harvard responded seconds after the second Elia goal. Miye D’Oench fired a rocket shot from just above the faceoff circles to beat Victoria Hanson to pull the Crimson within one.
However, moments after the D’Oench goal, Michelle Picard was whistled for an interference penalty. In the waning moments of the elapsed penalty time, a scramble around the net mouth resulted in Sammy Davis poking a shot past Maschmeyer to give the Terriers the two-goal cushion again. The goal represented Elia’s third point of the day, as she collected an assist on the play.
The second period was largely dominated by the Crimson. The domination really took hold in the second half of the period, and it was evidenced by a goal as Briana Mastel wristed a shot over Hanson’s blocker a little past the halfway point in the period. The goal pulled the Crimson within one.
The third period resulted in a further momentum push for the Crimson. Yet it wasn’t until the second half of the third period where the Crimson were able to convert. Daniels tied the game for the Crimson approaching the three-quarter mark in the third period. The momentum continued for the Crimson, as with 58 seconds left, lightning struck twice for the Crimson. Daniels netted her second of the game to give the Crimson the lead.
From that point, the last 58 seconds was all academic, save for an additional goal in the closing second by D’Oench. BU was unable to muster enough offense, and the Crimson claimed third place, avoiding being the first team since 1992-93 to finish in fourth place after winning the tournament the year before.
