Disallowed Goal Becomes Turning Point in W. Hockey's Victory Over St. Lawrence

DURHAM, N.H.—With Harvard out to a commanding 4-1 lead in the latter stages of the third period of its NCAA semifinals win over St. Lawrence March 25, it was a goal that never quite came to fruition that sealed the victory.

Skating at 4-on-3 with fewer than seven minutes left in the contest, the Saints cranked up the offensive pressure and edged in on Crimson goalie Ali Boe in desperate need of a score. In their favor was the presence on the ice of Harvard sophomore Katie Johnston, who is inexperienced in the triangular penalty kill.

The unit allowed St. Lawrence forward Chelsea Grills to step into a slapshot from well inside the blue line. The shot deflected off senior Nicole Corriero and flew into the crossbar before diving down and teetering on the goal line.

The Saints skaters raised their arms in celebration, thinking they had trimmed the Harvard lead to two, while Corriero and Julie Chu—seeing the puck’s true precarious position—scrambled to knock the puck off the line.

With both teams swiping at the puck, still hovering in the crease, the officials blew the play dead. The referees proceeded to the official scorer’s booth, where they studied the film for several moments before ruling that there was not conclusive evidence to allow the goal.

“The puck actually went off my stick and hit the top crossbar and I guess it went straight down,” Corriero summarized. “I was really happy that they called it as no goal.”

Afterwards, coach Katey Stone singled out the disallowed tally as the major “turning point” in the Crimson triumph, despite its timing at the end of a seemingly decided game.

“Granted, there were six minutes to go and we still would have been up 4-2,” Stone said. “But I just felt like, hmm, this might be our day. Because we’ve been in that situation before where there’ve been some very close calls that haven’t gone our way.”

Stone was referring to situations in the previous two national title games in which the Crimson came up on the short end of whistled controversial goals.

This time around, when the call came down in its favor, Harvard couldn’t help but feel confident and wonder if perhaps its luck had changed in 2005.

“The mentality but also the energy on our bench was tremendous,” Stone said. “The kids were fired up. They weren’t tired at all and they kept it really simple. In some of the big games that we’ve played that we’ve come out on top we’ve had that feeling.”

BANGED-UP BANFIELD

Senior Ashley Banfield, the Crimson’s number one defender, went down with a rib cage injury on a penalty kill late in the first period and did not return. By the time she was hurt, Harvard already held a secure 2-0 lead and the urgency to rush her back to the ice was absent.

The team’s other blue liners, in the meantime, picked up Banfield’s shifts without missing a beat.

“[She] went down in the first period and we didn’t get her back for precautionary reasons,” Stone said. “So then we become one junior, two sophomores, and a freshman and they did great.”

That group—Jennifer Skinner, Caitlin Cahow, Lindsay Weaver, and Jessica Mackenzie—held the Saints to just 17 shots for the game and off the scoreboard for nearly the entire final two periods.

Banfield, however—the only senior and the unquestioned leader of the bunch—was invaluable to the team’s prospects against Minnesota and its explosive top line in the final March 27.

Two days prior to the championship, Stone was still unsure whether or not Banfield would be available for that game.

But after testing negative in X-rays and having a healthy skate in practice March 26, Stone and the trainers cleared Banfield for her final collegiate game.

“We weren’t sure until she had some pictures taken last night,” Stone said. “But she’ll be fine.”

Banfield ranks second in the nation (behind Minnesota’s Lyndsay Wall) in scoring by defensemen with 1.17 points per game.

BOX AND WON

In an unsurprising development, the March 25 meeting between the Crimson and St. Lawrence was an intensely physical affair. Given the familiarity of the conference rivals and the tense playoff atmosphere, the hard hitting dished out on both sides was expected.

The high number of resulting penalty calls, however, was not.

The referees handed out 44 penalty minutes in all, with 12 fouls called on Harvard and 10 on the Saints.

The resulting emphasis on special teams play put St. Lawrence—way down the national list at 18th in combined special teams—at a serious disadvantage.

“Last week [against Duluth, the referees] let us play. Then we get here on this stage on the big ice surface and it’s completely different,” said St. Lawrence coach Paul Flanagan. “So I think the kids were a little confused with this dramatic change. You get to the point where you’re not sure how to play defense.”

The Saints looked absolutely unsure how to contain the second-ranked Crimson power play and were burned for three extra-skater tallies.

On the opposite end, St. Lawrence could not capitalize on all but one of its 12 power plays, but Stone was still displeased to have surrendered so many chances.

“We could have done a better job of that,” she said. “So we’re going to clean up our act a bit.”

THREE-LINE PASS

Defensemen received the first assist on all four of Harvard’s goals. Cahow had three and Weaver one...Ali Boe now ranks sixth in the nation in goals-against average and fourth in winning percentage...Attendance for the joint semifinal session at the Whittemore Center was registered at 2,204.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.