W. Hockey Continues Perfect Season

The No. 2 Harvard women’s hockey team used a pair of games against ECAC also-rans this weekend to polish its perfect record, now a nation’s best 9-0-0.

The last Crimson team to boast such a spotless record was the 2003-04 squad, which was undefeated through its first 11 games.

“There are a lot of things that are special about this team,” tri-captain Caitlin Cahow said. “One is that we really have a good time together...when you care about the person sitting next to you, you are always going to work hard.”

Harvard (9-0-0, 9-0-0 ECAC) traveled to Troy, N.Y., on Friday night to take on Rensselaer (6-7-2, 1-4-1) at the Houston Field House. Junior Sarah Vaillancourt led the team with two goals and an assist to help extend Harvard’s winning streak to eight games with a 5-2 triumph over the Engineers.

After a 16-mile bus ride west, six different Harvard skaters scored in a 6-0 victory over bottom-dwelling Union (1-13-0, 0-6-0) in Schenectady.

HARVARD 6, UNION 0

Just nine games into the season and nine Harvard players have multiple goals to their names.

Offensive output from a multitude of sources is a recurring theme for this year’s Crimson squad—and Saturday’s win over Union was certainly no exception.

“One of the things I know the captains and coaches feel strongly about this year,” Cahow said, “is that we want every player to feel like she can make a difference anywhere on the ice.”

Cahow, Vaillancourt, junior Sarah Wilson, sophomores Anna McDonald and Cori Bassett, and freshman Liza Ryabkina each recorded a tally in the 6-0 shutout of the Dutchwomen.

But the most telling statistic in the blowout was the shot count—Harvard held a 61-6 edge.

“On Saturday we came out flying and really used the things we had talked about after RPI to our advantage,” Cahow said.

The Crimson yet again turned consistent defensive pressure into 60 full minutes of offensive productivity. Union managed just two shots per frame while Harvard put up 25, 23, and 13 shots in the three periods of play, respectively.

In her first start of the regular season, junior goalie Brittany Martin made four saves in two periods while freshman Kylie Stephens recorded the final two stops in the third.

“Kessler has been playing amazing for our team,” Vaillancourt said. “But we were able to prove that our other two goalies are able to play too.”

Vaillancourt put the team on the scoreboard at the 15:40 mark by burying a rebound of a Ryabkina shot.

In the next two and a half minutes, Harvard increased its edge to 3-0 on a McDonald score at 16:05 and a Wilson power-play strike at 18:01.

The relentless Crimson attack continued to pepper Dutchwomen goalie Lundy Day in the second frame to push the score to its final 6-0 count.

Just over three minutes into the period, Vaillancourt found linemate Ryabkina for the rookie’s third goal of the season. Cahow notched the team’s second power-play goal at the 11:22 mark and Bassett rounded out the scoring on the man advantage less than two minutes later.

Harvard currently leads the nation in power-play efficiency with a 33.3 percent success rate; its penalty kill ranks seventh in the country at 87.8 percent.

The game also marked the Crimson’s first contest against former captain and assistant coach Claudia Asano ’99, who is in her first year as head coach at Union.

HARVARD 5, RENSSELAER 2

Nine minutes was all that Harvard needed on Friday night to eke out the three goals that would eventually provide the winning margin.

The Crimson recorded three scores in the first frame and two in the second in skating to a 5-2 victory over RPI, which currently sits in a ninth-place tie in the 12-team ECAC.

“The first game against RPI was a struggle for us,” Vaillancourt said. “We scored three really quick goals in the beginning, but it wasn’t our best game as a team.”

McDonald opened the scoring for the Crimson by finishing the rebound of a shot from freshman Kate Buesser just over three minutes into the game.

Vaillancourt then scored an unassisted power-play goal at the 8:01 mark after forcing a turnover and breaking away from the defense. Freshman Deborah Conway recorded her first collegiate goal under a minute later, pushing the score to 3-0.

Although the Engineers outshot the Crimson, 13-12 in the second frame, Harvard managed to sneak two more goals by RPI goalie Ashley Mayr.

Vaillancourt turned a crisp pass from Jenny Brine into an extra-skater score just under four minutes into the frame to help the Crimson to its largest lead of the game.

RPI finally got on the board at the 11:12 mark when Whitney Naslund snuck a goal past Harvard goalie Christina Kessler. Ryabkina fired next to help Harvard reclaim is four-goal margin, but the Engineers scored the game’s lone goal in the third period to reach the 5-2 final.

Kessler earned her eighth win of the season with a 26-save effort. She currently leads the nation in save percentage at .956.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Compton can be reached at compton@fas.harvard.edu.