Women’s Hockey Tripped Up By Sacred Heart in OT – Harvard University

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – For the first time ever the Harvard Crimson and the Sacred Heart Pioneers went toe to toe on the women’s hockey ice. Sacred Heart (11-13-1, 10-7-1 NEWHA) needed an extra couple of minutes but it was still able to get past the Crimson (5-11-3, 4-7-3 ECACH).
 
Kristin Della Rovere became the national faceoff wins leader with win No. 339 on the year and Paige Lester scored her fifth goal of the season in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Crimson and the Pioneers dropped the puck for the first time ever at SHU’s brand new Martire Family Arena.
• Sacred Heart struck first, five minutes into the contest, taking a 1-0 lead.
• Paige Lester answered for the Crimson just 30 second later with a wrap-around goal to even the score. Mia Biotti and Shannon Hollands put pressure on the Pioneers defense to set up the Lester strike.
• Harvard dominated in the first 20 minutes, outshooting SHU 17-6 and controlling the puck in the Pioneer zone for a majority of the frame.
• It was a standstill second period as the score would remain 1-1 after 40 minutes. The Crimson outshot the Pioneers 17-4 in the frame but could not find the go-ahead tally.
• The same occurred in the third period, as Harvard threw 21 shots on goal (The most in a period all season) but could not light the lamp.
• The game went into an overtime period after both teams remained at one goal each after 60 minutes.
• Sacred Heart scored on a breakaway two minutes into overtime to clinch the win over the Crimson.   

HARVARD HIGHLIGHTS

• Paige Lester has now scored in back-to-back games after her first period tally. Lester has the second-most goals on the team with five in 2022-23.
• Shannon Hollands recorded an assist on the Lester goal and now has five points in her last six games. Mia Biotti, who recorded the other assist, has now notched a point in five of her last eight games.
• The Crimson put 34 shots on goal in the first 40 minutes – 17 in each period – which is the most through two periods for the team this season.
• On the opposite end of the ice, the Crimson played solid defense in front of Alex Pellicci, who faced only 10 shots in the first two periods, a season low.
• Kristin Della Rovere won 18 faceoffs in the contest and is currently the national leader in faceoff wins with 339 on the year.
• Della Rovere also led the team with 10 shots on goal and three blocked shots against the Pioneers.

UP NEXT

Harvard will stay in Cambridge next weekend to host RPI (Jan. 20) and Union (Jan. 21) at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Puck drop is set for 6:00 PM against the Engineers and 3:00 PM against the Dutchwomen.