Harvard Handles Women’s Hockey Team

CAMBRIDGE — Most championship-caliber teams use experience to find success. Currently, the Boston College women's hockey squad possesses more youth than experience, and, as a result, has been struggling as of late.
This inexperience showed in the first round of the Beanpot, which resulted in a 5-0 loss to No. 6 Harvard on Tuesday night at the Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge.
That being said, head coach Katie King was not discouraged with the seemingly embarrassing result in the tournament the team won last year over Harvard, 1-0.
"I was pretty proud with the way they played," King said. "We're extremely young, and I think we played really well."
The game opened with the Crimson firing multiple shots on BC goaltender Corinne Boyles, who came up with some great saves to keep the team in the game. The Eagles were outshot 13-6 in the first period, though it came to a conclusion with goose eggs on both sides of the scoreboard.
The first frame was a fairly even one, with both teams earning a power play and both teams killing the attempt. Although Harvard owned an offensive edge, BC hung tough and kept the score tied.
The second period continued on in the same way, with a barrage of Harvard shots and little offensive play on the Eagles' behalf. In this period alone, the Crimson tallied an astounding 22 shots but managed to slide just one past Boyles, who, up until the last 1:24, rejected everything that entered her zone.
The first score of the game came from Harvard's Liza Ryabkina on a power play. The shot came from Harvard's Anna McDonald on the left side of the ice, which Boyles saved but was unable to hold on to. The puck bounced back in front of the net, where Ryabkina was waiting to bury the rebound.
As the game continued in the third period of play, the lack of offensive attack hindered the Eagles' chances to mount a comeback and provided the Crimson endless opportunities to control possession and extend their lead. Throughout the three periods, the team totaled just 15 shots on the opposing net – including only three in the final period – looking for the best opportunities instead of pulling the trigger when available.
"With a young team, my kids are trying to make some perfect plays, where we really just have to make the hard-fought play," King said. "In that first period I think we had a three-on-one at one point, and we tried to tic-tac-toe it instead of getting to the net and getting a rebound. But we just keep talking to our kids, we got to get pucks in the net, and try and get people there."
At 8:40 in the third, Harvard began to pull away from the Eagles as Ryabkina added another power-play goal, bringing the score to 2-0. Within three minutes of this goal, Harvard would go on to add two more – one from Harvard's Josephine Pucci, and another tally from Rayabkina.
The final goal of the game came at 14:09 on a four-on-four from Ryabkina, yet again, who ended the night with four of the five goals scored in the game.
"I thought our kids battled pretty hard there for two periods. Obviously the third period was a little hectic and kind of crazy," King said. "There were some penalties and a lot of special teams, but I thought our kids battled hard. Overall, I was proud of the way my kids played."
Boyles, the freshman goaltender, held the fighting Eagles in the game for the first two periods of the contest and served as a stabilizing and reassuring force in the back.
Saving 46 of the 51 shots fired against her, Boyles recorded a career-high number of saves in the game against the Crimson.
"She played great," King said. "She's never played a Beanpot before, and she's never experienced any of this. I thought she really did come up with some good saves for us, especially in that first period, to get our kids into the game a little bit and giving them a little bit of a breather back there."
Despite Boyles' career day, an anemic Eagle offense kept them from sticking with the nationally-ranked Crimson. The loss marked the 11th straight contest in which BC was unable to secure a win. It is 0-6 in its last six contests, and the Eagles have been outscored 26-8 in those losses.
Still searching for the game that can end the losing streak, the Eagles must concentrate on an away bout with the No. 8 Connecticut Huskies before the consolation game against the Boston University Terriers on Tuesday night.
With one Beanpot game under their belts, the team will aim to substitute its youth for experience in the next two contests.