IRVINE, Calif. – A stretch of four minutes in the second period was the difference in the SoCal Clash series opener between the No. 16/14 Sun Devils and No. 17 Harvard Saturday night, as the Crimson (7-4-0) rattled off three unanswered goals en route to a 4-1 victory in front of a capacity crowd of 2,253 at FivePoint Arena.
Despite outshooting Harvard 44-30 overall and 20-7 in the final period, the Sun Devils (10-7-2) couldn't find a way to beat Crimson netminder Mitchell Gibson early on despite several odd-man rushes.
I love our intensity and energy in the 3rd period," said head coach Greg Powers. "We had a lot of chances and their goalie played very well. That's a very good team and the bottom line is if you turn pucks over, they'll make you pay and they did."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- A back-and-forth first period ensued with ASU outshooting Harvard 12-7. Both teams saw their fair share of scoring chances, but both Evan DeBrouwer and Mitchell Gibson stood pat.
- The second period saw the damn break, as Harvard got the soring started halfway thru the middle frame behind Austin Wong's first goal of the season.
- Just 42 seconds later, while DeBrouwer was sprawled out without his stick after a save, Jack Badini backhanded a shot that trickled over DeBrouwer and into the net for the 2-0 lead and eventual game-winner.
- Three minutes later, Harvard's Casey Dornbach followed his shot and put another shot on net that went off the skate of a sliding Jordan Sandhu and up and over DeBrouwer who was down.
- ASU finally got one past Gibson in the 3rd, as Josh Maniscalco one-timed a shot that beat him through traffic on the power play. It was Maniscalco's sixth of the season, while James Sanchez recorded his team-leading 17th assist.
- Six minutes into the 3rd, Nick Abruzzese netted the final goal of the game off an ASU turnover in their own zone.
GAME NOTES
- Ironically, ASU lost game one of the two-game series by the same score at Harvard last season. The Sun Devils also outshot the Crimson in that game as well.
- This is the first Saturday game the Sun Devils have lost since Oct. 12 at then-No. 3 Minnesota State.
- Gibson's 43 saves were a collegiate best for the freshman in his seven games played.
- Sanchez is now on a three-game assist streak with four in his last three games.
- Josh Maniscalco ended a four-game pointless skid with his power-play tally.