Sports in brief

St. Lawrence sweeps hockey, men nab first win

A balanced St. Lawrence attack lifted the fifth-ranked Saints past No. 6 Harvard, 4-2, in women’s hockey action this past Saturday (Nov. 4) at Appleton Arena. The loss marks the Crimson’s first of the young season, dropping the Harvard club to 3-1-0 overall.

The Crimson entered the game undefeated, having outscored their opponents by a combined 23-0 margin since the team’s Oct. 28 season opener. St. Lawrence (Harvard’s first nationally ranked foe in 2006-07) never trailed in the contest, as four different Saints notched goals over three periods of play.

Forward Julie Chu ’07 and Kirsten Kester ’09 accounted for Harvard’s output, while freshman defenseman Cori Bassett recorded a pair of assists.

The men of St. Lawrence also proved victorious against the Crimson, eking out a 5-4 win in Cambridge on Saturday evening. With the game tied 2-2 in the middle stanza, the Saints ran off three straight goals in a three-minute span to take a 5-2 lead.

Harvard’s Bill Keenan ’09 and Ryan Maki ’07 responded with a goal each in the early going of the third period to cut into the deficit. Yet a final offensive onslaught was unsuccessful for the Crimson, as St. Lawrence goalie Alex Petizian managed three saves (33 on the night) in the closing seconds to preserve the win.

The men bounced back this past Tuesday (Nov. 7) with a convincing 4-0 shutout of No. 3 Boston College at Bright Hockey Center. In his second collegiate start, freshman goaltender Kyle Richter tallied 36 saves to help hand Harvard (1-3-0) its first win of the season.

Foilist Cross takes first in season-opening action

2005 NCAA foil champion Emily Cross paced the Harvard women’s fencing contingent with a first-place showing at the 35th Garret Penn State Collegiate Open this past Sunday (Nov. 5) at Penn State. Cross went unbeaten in three rounds of pool competition to enter the single-elimination bracket finals as one of the top two seeds. She reached the semifinals with a 15-9 win against Penn’s Ilana Sinkin, before dismissing Penn State’s Tamara Najm, 15-2, in the quarterfinals and Notre Dame’s Adi Nott in the championship bout, 15-7.

All told, half a dozen Crimson fencers nabbed spots in the top 10 in their respective weapons. Harvard resumes action Nov. 29 against visiting Tufts.

Crimson swimming sails to victory

The Harvard men’s swimming and diving team captured the first 10 events of Saturday’s season-opening meet opposite Penn (Nov. 4) to cruise to a 189-101 win at Blodgett Pool. Geoff Rathgeber ’08 paced the Crimson with three individual wins, including the 400-yard individual medley, which saw the Harvard junior better Ryan Dierberg of Penn by 17 seconds.

For the women, freshman Alexandra Clarke and junior Samantha Papadakis each posted a pair of individual wins to help the Crimson to a 198-100 victory over the Quakers. It’s the Harvard women’s 21st straight dual-meet win.