Wisconsin senior captain Annie Pankowski scored the game-winner with 1:54 left in overtime to earn a 3-2 win over Harvard Friday night in Madison.
The Badgers outshot the Crimson, 50-16, but struggled to find the back of the net in the face of a stellar outing from Harvard freshman goalie Lindsay Reed. She played a spectacular game for the Crimson, stopping a number of odd-player rushes and making a couple of highlight-reel saves, including a kick save in the first. The Badgers peppered her in the third period, doubling their shots on goal from the previous two periods, and she made a number of point-blank saves to stymie the Wisconsin offense.
It wasn’t just Reed who was giving the Badgers fit in front of the net. The Harvard defense did a great job of clogging up the middle, lifting sticks, poking the puck, and generally making it difficult for the Badgers to gain an edge near the crease.
“They’re a little stronger on their sticks than what we’re used to,” said Pankowski. “They’re very good at getting back in the slot, so we would get the puck in scoring position and their sticks would be all over us. I think if we can do a better job of moving the puck a little faster, that won’t be a factor tomorrow.”
Wisconsin and Harvard have played each other just six times, and this is the first time the meeting has come during the regular season since November 2004. They last met in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2014, where Wisconsin won 2-1.
The differing styles of play worked against the Badgers, who took five penalties in the game while Harvard had none. It was an early power play that opened the scoring.
Alexis Mauermann was called for a tripping penalty, and it looked like the Badgers would be to withstand the power play as they had the puck in the Crimson offensive zone and Abby Roque had a short-handed opportunity, but Harvard recovered and took the puck down the ice, where Kristin Della Rovere beat Kristin Campbell glove side to put Harvard up 1-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Pankowski single-handedly tied up the game on a spectacular play during another Harvard power play just a few minutes later. She was pressuring Harvard in their defensive zone as they brought it from behind the net to set up. Pankowski picked the pocket of Maryna MacDonald and then had a wide open path to net, where she beat Reed to tie the game at one.
Five minutes later, the Badgers took the lead on a tip-in by Presley Norby to make it 2-1. Sophia Shaver took a shot from Reed’s right at distance, and Norby put just enough on it to help it sneak in. That would be all the scoring for the next 45 minutes.
Wisconsin seemed to take over in the third period. A fast-paced game seemed to take a toll on the Crimson, who had just three offensive lines due to injury. The Badgers attempted 34 shots in the frame, putting 19 on net, but could not put one home.
Harvard seemed to slow down in the third as they took look shots on their zone entries and used the chance to make line changes, but they didn’t stop looking for opportunities. With 1:15 left in the third, Lexie Laing tied the game on a quick transition that caught the Badgers, and she beat Campbell from the far faceoff circle.
The game headed to overtime, and it was once again Pankowski as she sniped one past Reed with 1:54 to go in the overtime period to earn the win for Wisconsin.
“From a team standpoint, we’d been battling all game, and that goalie was just hot,” said Pankowski. “So I think we had a lot of momentum going into the overtime. That extra five minutes really was all that we needed to put the pressure on a little bit and put one home.”
The teams return to the ice Saturday at 8 p.m. Central time for game two of the series.
