Sophomore defender Josephine Pucci scored the game-tying goal for the Harvard women’s hockey team, as the Crimson came back to beat UNH, 3-1. After Pucci ‘s goal, freshman Lyndsey Fry notched her first two collegiate tallies, helping Harvard snap a three game losing streak last night.

When the Harvard women’s hockey team finished its 3-1 dismantling of the University of New Hampshire, the skaters must have declared a collective TGIF: “Thank God it’s Fry-Day” in honor of freshman Lyndsey Fry.

With her team locked in a 1-1 stalemate after the first 20 frame, Fry scored the first two goals of her career in the second period to put the Crimson up for good last night in Durham, N.H.

“It was a good win,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We played well in all three zones. We had a lot of energy.”

But it was the Wildcats that got off to the fast start when UNH sophomore forward Kristina Lavoie put the puck past Crimson goalkeeper Laura Bellamy, also a sophomore, less than 10 minutes into the game.

Though Harvard went down early, it avoided panicking and running into penalty trouble. Instead it was the Wildcats that grew overeager: UNH picked up three penalties in the first period alone.

“I think we have a really resilient team,” tri-captain Kate Buesser said. “I don’t think we ever think that we’re out of the game. It’s just our mentality.”

A slashing call on Wildcat senior forward Julie Allen around 15 minutes into the first gave the Crimson the window it needed to even the score. Sophomore defenseman Josephine Pucci had the tying tally off assists from Leanna Coskren and Kate Buesser.

The second period was all Harvard, and, once again, it was a UNH penalty that opened up the ice.

The Crimson had been playing man down until a tripping penalty on Wildcat rookie Arielle O’Neill brought the teams to even strength at 6:59 in the second. Twenty-two seconds later, Harvard had a one-goal lead and Fry had her first career goal.

“She rolled to the net hard, used her body well,” Stone said.

Ten minutes later, Fry found the back of the net once more, again on an even strength, 5-on-5 goal.

The rookie’s goal came six seconds before the expiration of a cross-checking penalty on Lavoie and allowed the Crimson to enter its 24-second penalty kill with a two-goal cushion.

Harvard killed it, as it did on all three penalties it faced, a positive sign for a team that entered the contest ranked last in nation in penalty kill.

“Our penalty kill did very well,” Buesser said. “Our whole unit worked extremely well. We kept them from getting to the spots they wanted and taking the shots they wanted.”

The penalty kill was typical of the Crimson’s defensive effort last night.