The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team took a 2-0 lead on goals by Jacquie Diffley and Rachael Smith, but Harvard responded with four unanswered goals to beat the Saints 4-2 in an ECAC Hockey contest at Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Friday night.

St. Lawrence fell to 13-13-5 overall, 8-7-4 in ECAC Hockey. Harvard moved into a tie with the Saints for fifth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 9-8-2 conference record (11-12-3 overall). Despite the loss, St. Lawrence clinched a spot in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Saints can finish anywhere from fifth to eighth in the conference standings.

St. Lawrence posted a season-high 47 shots on goal, but were stymied by Lindsay Reed, who made 45 saves, with 36 coming in the first two periods.

"We played a great game," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells '92. "That is about seven in a row where we have played with that intensity. Reed was excellent all game as she has been all year. We had great chances all night. We could have been up 5-0 midway through the game as we hit two crossbars and a post as well. Harvard has been playing equally as well the past month and finished the game strong. It was another exciting game with them down here."

Diffley gave St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead with her first goal of the season about a minute after the Saints' first power play of the game ended. The Saints kept the Crimson pinned inside their zone for more than a minute, and while the Crimson eventually killed the penalty and cleared the zone, Diffley collected the puck at her own blue line and skated into the Harvard zone 1-on-5 and shot the puck off Reed's left shoulder and into the net.

Smith increased the lead to 2-0 just 26 seconds into the second period, banging home a rebound after Reed saved a shot from the point by Skylar Podvey.

Maggie McLaughlin nearly gave the Saints a three-goal lead during a 5-on-3 power play later in the second period, tipping a pass from Podvey off the crossbar.

Harvard's Becca Gilmore cut the Saints' lead to one halfway through the second period, breaking free on the net and going forehand-backhand to beat St. Lawrence goaltender Grace Harrison.

Harvard tied the score just 32 seconds later when a blast from the point by Emma Buckles got through a screen.

Podvey nearly gave the Saints the lead again, hitting the post with just over seven minutes to play in the second period.

Kat Hughes gave the Crimson their first lead the game with less than seven minutes to play in the third period, redirecting a feed into the slot by Kristi Della Rovere past Harrison.

Della Rovere put the game away with a shorthanded breakaway goal, shooting high blocker side with just 3:39 remaining.

Harrison stopped 26 shots for the Saints.

St. Lawrence will face Dartmouth on Saturday at Thompson Arena in Hanover, N.H.