CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 6/6 Harvard (21-8-1) fell short in the opening game of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals vs. Princeton (12-13-5) on Friday night, as the Tigers used a pair of third period goals to win 4-2, taking game one of the best-of-three series at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. 
 
The Crimson twice erased one-goal deficits but was not able to manage a final response in the third period, despite outshooting the Tigers 18-8 in the last frame. 
 
Each team scored a goal in the opening 20 minutes. Princeton was first on the board at 6:32 on a score by sophomore winger Annie Kuehl. The Tigers maintained a 1-0 lead for over 10 minutes of play before Harvard's Brooke Jovanovich evened things up at 16:55. After Taze Thompson was tied up in the right corner, Jovanovich emerged with the puck, carried to the right circle and snapped a wrist-shot that rang the crossbar before dropping into the net. The goal was the fifth of the season for the senior, and her third against Princeton this year. 
 
Period number two played out similarly to the first, with the Tigers taking the lead early only to be matched by Harvard in the later stages. Captain Sharon Frankel put Princeton back in front, 2-1, just 2:58 into the second with her second goal of the season. Then, with under a minute to play in the period, Kate Glover brought the puck from center ice into the offensive zone, cutting to the middle and wristing a shot past Princeton netminder Rachel McQuigge to level the score once more. 
 
The teams skated onto the ice for the third period with the game tied at two, but Princeton's Shannon Griffin scored the only two goals of the last 20 minutes, making the night's final tally, 4-2. 

Harvard Highlights 

• Brooke Jovanovich scored her third goal against Princeton this season. Three of Jovanovich's five goals this year have come against the Tigers with the senior tallying once in all three meetings. 
• Kate Glover recorded her second goal of the season and fifth of her career, scoring with just 45 seconds to play in the second period. 
• In her return from the Beijing Winter Olympics, Keely Moy registered the primary assist on Harvard's second goal of the night. 
• Becca Gilmore led Harvard with eight shots on goal in the game. 
• The Crimson's top defensive pairing of Emma Buckles and Kyra Willoughby finished the game +1. 
• Kristin Della Rovere went 17-10 at the faceoff dot.

Game Notes 

• The Crimson fired 42 shots on net compared to 32 by Princeton. The 42 shots were the most for Harvard in a loss this season. 
• In a battle between the top two faceoff teams in the country, the Crimson went 25-23 at the dot. 
• Neither team scored a power-play goal with Harvard going 0-2 on the advantage and Princeton 0-1. 
• Harvard moves to 50-36-6 vs. Princeton all-time and 6-1 against the Tigers in the ECAC Tournament. 
• Harvard is now 50-30 overall in ECAC Tournament play. 

Up Next 

The two teams will do it again tomorrow as game two of the series is held at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. with the contest airing on ESPN+ and Stretch Internet.