CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University's Liza Ryabkina's four-goal performance helped the Crimson cruise to a 5-0 victory over Boston College during first-round women's Beanpot action Tuesday night. The junior from the Ukraine led her team to a third-straight Beanpot final.
Hungry for revenge after being knocked off by the Eagles in last year's title match, the Crimson finally got on the board late in the second and never looked back. Ryabkina started the Crimson scoring storm by picking up her seventh goal of the season at 18:26 of the second stanza, with Anna McDonald and Kelsey Romatoski tallying assists on the play.
The Crimson then opened the scoring floodgates in the third as they went on to add four more unanswered goals. Ryabkina picked up her second goal of the game 8:40 into the third on a pass from Kate Buesser. Josephine Pucci would answer less than two minutes later on another feed from Buesser and Randi Griffin and less than a minute after that, Ryabkina scored her third of the game on another assist from McDonald. Finally, with just under six minutes left, Ryabkina notched her fourth goal of the evening, effectively sticking a dagger into the BC coffin.
The first period was full of even, back-and-forth play, but Harvard took over in the second. The Crimson offense was too much for the Eagles as they trounced them 51-15 in shots. Nearly half of those 51 came during the second period, as Harvard peppered BC netminder Corinne Boyles with 22 in that frame alone.
The Eagles looked to be missing the offensive touch of 2009 Beanpot MVP Kelli Stack (U.S. Olympic team) as they managed only 15 shots on net the entire game and only got off three in the third. BC's power play struggled on the night as well, going 0-for-4.
With Tuesday's win, Harvard is now riding a three-game winning streak. The Crimson will gear up with Brown and Yale over the weekend before facing Northeastern next Tuesday for the Beanpot title.
The Crimson will be looking to add to their 12 Beanpot titles. Their last win came back in 2008.
