No. 6 Harvard (17-7-0) came back in the third period to hand No. 1 Dartmouth (19-2-1) just its second loss of the season on Saturday at Bright Hockey Center, 3-2.
Harvard center Jennifer Botterill scored the game-winner with 2:29 left in regulation when she beat the Dartmouth defense down the ice and roofed a shot past Big Green goaltender Amy Ferguson.
“We came out flying in the third period and we had some great chances,” Botterill said. “But their goaltender was doing a great job and when I broke free I wanted to get off a quick shot to try and catch her by surprise.”
That ended another impressive week for Botterill, who also won the Beanpot for Harvard with an overtime goal against No. 9 Northeastern last Tuesday. It was the 30th goal of the season for Botterill, who leads the ECAC in scoring with 53 points.
“Harvard made us react to them all game,” said Dartmouth coach Judy Parish Oberting. “Amy Ferguson did a good job of keeping us in the game, but Botterill was able to get loose at the end. When she gets a look like that it’s likely to hit the back of the net, and that’s just what happened.”
Dartmouth winger Carly Haggard gave the Big Green its first lead of the game, 2-1, 9:21 into the final period when she carried the puck end to end along the right boards before beating Harvard netminder Jessica Ruddock. But the Crimson tied the game 96 seconds later when winger Kiirsten Suurkask flipped a backhander from the slot through Ferguson’s five-hole.
Harvard grabbed the lead 7:56 into the game when Botterill rifled a centering pass from the right corner toward the net, where winger Tammy Shewchuk was waiting to knock the puck past Ferguson. Dartmouth got the equalizer with 3:53 left in the opening period when winger Jennifer Wiehn blocked a slapshot from the blueline and scored on the breakaway.
The win snapped Dartmouth’s four-game winning streak over Harvard, which had not beaten the Big Green since the 1999 ECAC Tournament semifinal. It was Dartmouth’s first loss since January 5.
