Saturday afternoon at Bright, the Crimson of Harvard blasted the Colby White
Mules 9-3.  Harvard knocked in five second period goals to take control of the
game.  Colby showed some elegant plays but couldn't recover.
 
The match opened with both teams attacking and some good up and down play.
Fresher Courtney Kennedy (Jenny O'Donnell) opened the scoring for the White
Mules when she had two go, and drove home her second chance.  The Crimson
defense was guilty of standing and watching.  Jen Gerometta (Christie
MacKinnon) tied the match for Harvard when she received a nice setup pass in
the slot from defender MacKinnon.  Harvard took the lead when Kiirsten
Suurkask (Angie Francisco, Courtney Smith) tucked in a rebound during a power
play.
 
At the start of the second, Colby was developing its down low rotation
(cycling) and the pattern was giving the Crimson defense fits.  However a
series of quick break-in plays by Harvard followed which put the contest away.
MacKinnon (Kate Schutt) made it 3-1 Crimson when her slapper found net from
the high slot.  MacKinnon scored again when she threw one in from the top of
the circle.  Colby was losing it.  Gerometta made it 5-1 Harvard when she took
the puck out of the corner and rifled it into the back of the net.  The Mules
started to apply some pressure, but Claudia Asano's (MacKinnon) dump shot from
the point trickled in.  Asano made it 7-1 when her power play slapper was
dropped by the Colby goalie into the net.  Meghan Sittler (Shannon Kennedy)
pulled one back for the Mules when she hit home a rebound.  The play was made
by Sittler's dynamic end to end rush.  The senior captain center blew by
everyone before deking in on goal for her initial shot.
 
In the final interval, Asano completed her hat trick with a breakaway
shorthanded score.  Colby was looking very tired.  Melissa Milbert (Francisco,
MacKinnon) scored the final Harvard goal to make it 9-2.  Francisco supplied
the lovely pass for Milbert to blast.  C Kennedy tallied the final score for
the Mules when she went top far corner with a power play rebound.
 
Colby hurts itself by not getting its third and probably the fourth line on
the ice.  The result is the impressive first line is called into duty too
often.  Fatigue inhibits the Mules obvious talent.  The defensive pairing of
Ann Mortenson and fresher Jessica Griffin looked sharp.  They kept it simple
and had a calm, steady air about them.  Up front, S Kennedy and Sittler were
thrilling to watch.  S Kennedy has some incredible moves and can make the
telling passes that create open space.  The Colby woman of the match was
Sittler.  The senior captain was superb.  Her surges up the ice and her
attacking concepts are top of the line.  Sittler has the ability to take
control of a game.  She made one fabulous third period ooh-la-la end to end
rush that was stunning.  Overall, Colby could do more with what it has.
 
The good part about Harvard's performance was that they used their bench and
kept the troops fresh.  The bad part of the Crimson was that too many players
were selfish, and a number of players continued their illicit actions.  The
result was poor team play.  Sophomore forward Smith was easily Harvard's
foremost attacker.  She used her range and power to not only find open space
to create a break, but also got back and back-checked at critical moments.
Smith also continued her smart play on the point during power plays.  The line
of Schutt, Sally Maloney and Elizabeth Ganzenmuller played the best as a unit.
When they were on the ice they held things together.  Fresher defender Jamie
Notman had a strong outing because she always moved the puck quickly.  The
woman of the match was super sophomore netminder Crystal Springer.  This kid
responds so well to the puck that when the shot finally comes she always seems
to be waiting for it.  Springer made several critical saves early on that gave
her team the confidence and time to go forward.  Overall, an important win for
Harvard who appears to be on its way to locking up a play-off spot.
 
 
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 good shooting
 hungerf
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