by David F. Pendrys (Eyewitness account checked against official box score.)

Editor’s note: Missed the first period do to the transportation issues.

CAMBRIDGE, MA- In an exhibition contest the Harvard Crimson beat the McGill Martlets Saturday afternoon by 3-2. Emerance Maschmeyer started in goal for Harvard and played much of the first and second period before Molly Tissenbaum came in. Tissenbaum would get the “win” in the exhibition as she was in net for the game winning goal naturally. Their counterpart for McGill was Taylor Hough.

The first period brought Harvard a 2-0 lead thanks to Karly Heffernan and Haley Mullins (note this is taken from the box score.)

In the second period McGill struck back. With Abbey Frazer in the box for Tripping, Kelsie Moffat of McGill had the puck in front of the net. She stick handled it and passed it to Brittney Fouracres who was perched at the side of the net. Fouracres had plenty of open room to target a quick shot into with the assist also going to Melodie Daoust at 5:15.

Harvard continued to have the advantage until late when Daoust scored. Tissenbaum had made two great saves during a McGill close range attack, but after the second save the puck slid into the center and right to Daoust waited and she lofted it in.

In period 3, Harvard found themselvess down a skater as Miye D’Oench had been called for Interference thirty seconds before period 2 ended, but Grace Zarzecki scored anyway for the Crimson at 1:20. She was poking around the McGill end persistently for awhile and ended up with the puck. Right in front she stick handled to gain control of the sliding puck, did, and smacked it past Hough for a 3-2 lead.

With no change in the score McGill pulled Hough late in the third but it did not result in a goal though not for lack of trying.

While I can’t speak to period 1, though I would assume with 2 goals the momentum was somewhat in Harvard’s favor, in period 2 it swung to McGill, but Harvard regained a lot of it in period 3.

Harvard had 22 shots on goal as did McGill. Heffernan, Audrey Warner, and Zarzecki each had 4 shots for the Crimson. For the Martlets Daoust had 5 shots to lead the team, and Gabrielle Davidson had 4.

Harvard’s Mullins won 15 of 22 faceoffs and McGill’s Daoust won 10 of 18 with teammate Erika Pyke winning 8 of 13.

Regarding saves, Tissenbaum came in before the 2nd period ended so I’m not sure about how it lines up with the box score as it reports she only played 20 minutes.

Other Tidbits (Not exhaustive observations about the game that may not appear in the stat sheet but were noticed.)

Harvard:

Maschmeyer had a big save when McGill centered and shot it in the 2nd.

Chelsea Ziadie broke up an attack in the second.

Briana Mastel cleared it during the power play.

The trio of Zarzecki, Dani Krzyszczyk, and Mastel skated in on Hough effectively in the third but the goalie stopped their attempt.

Audrey Warner had two defenders on her in the third, but still pushed the puck forward.

Zarzecki stick handled so well, including navigating beyond a McGill player who had slid on the ice.

Later she would steal the puck and build an opportunity.

McGill:

Emilia Cotter intercepted a pass and brought it in for a shot in the second.

While Moffat was in the box, Pyke and Joanne Cagianos each cleared it for it McGill.

Later in the third, Daoust broke in but couldn’t connect with her teammate.