Friday afternoon at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team dominated Harvard University in almost all but one category. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the one category the Crimson found away to top them was in the score column.

Despite a two-goal comeback that forced a 3-on-3 overtime, the luck of the Irish was not on UMD's side in the opening semifinal game of the Friendship Series, and it was Harvard that pulled off the lopsided 3-2 upset with just 21 seconds left in overtime. The loss also snaps the Bulldogs' seven-game winning streak it had over the Crimson dating back to 2016.

"I thought our third period was good, but it can't take us that long to get going," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. "You know, I felt like Harvard played us really well, and they're super gritty, and we didn't bring the grit that we normally play with to our game today. It was a little bit too late by the time it kicked in."

The Bulldogs shelled the Crimson with a season-high 57 shots, but their goaltender Ainsely Tuff was up to the task. But the first goal of the came from Harvard's penalty kill unit, a shorthanded breakaway by Kate Kasica that put the Crimson up 1-0 8:18 in the opening frame. 

The Bulldogs did kill off a 4-on-3 Harvard power play to finish the period, but their 1-0 deficit for carried into the second. Again, UMD outshot Harvard, this time by a 16-5 margin, but again the Crimson scored against the grain to make it a 2-0 at 18:31.

"I don't think we were expecting them to play that physical and stuff, but that's the thing, we need to expect that from every single team that we play, every single team going forward," said Sadura postgame. They're going to give us their all, you know, we kind of have a target on our back being the team from the WCHA here. We need to go and just need to be ready to play."

Down 2-0 with just 20 minutes of regulation left, the Bulldogs finally found their offense midway through the frame. It started at the 8:39 mark, a tic, tac, toe goal that was initiated with Caitlin Kraemer pass from the left side to Danielle Burgen. Burgen one-time the puck to Thea Johansson alongside her in the slot, and Johansson's one-timer beat Tuff for UMD's first goal in Belfast. 

Tic, Tac, JOhansson!!! pic.twitter.com/C45Xftrt2E

— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) January 2, 2026

Just over five minutes later, UMD equalized when Madison Burr fought for and and won the puck behind the net. Burr's second effort found Grace Sadura, fresh off the bench charging in the slot, and the junior winger buried her chance to draw the Bulldogs even at 2-2.

SUPER SADURA!! pic.twitter.com/HkwbHB5DM3

— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) January 2, 2026

UMD heavily outshot Harvard 25-10 in the third period, but the Bulldogs had to settle for just two goals and the relief of forcing overtime after trailing in two of the three periods played.

Overtime brought chances for the UMD, but much like the rest of the game and 55 of 57 shots, the Bulldogs couldn't pull out the game-winner. Harvard finally did just that with just 21 seconds left in extra time, sealing UMD's first setback against the Crimson since the 2015-16 season.

The Bulldogs ended the game with a 57- 27 shots on goal advantage, with Kraemer recording a game-high 12 in the skate. Tuff had 55 saves for Harvard, while Eve Gascon had 24 for UMD in its first overtime loss of the season.

"I think it was a good experience today," said Sadura. "Fun playing fun in front of that crowd and stuff and I think we learned those lessons and hopefully take that tomorrow that it's not good to start the game in the third period."

UMD (12-7 overall) will now face No. 8 Quinnipiac University in a top-10 battle that will have heavy NCAA postseason implications for both teams. Puck is set to drop at 3:00 GMT and 9:00 CST in the third place game of the Friendship Series.

BULLDOG NOTES: Friday was the Bulldogs' first loss to a nationally unranked team this season … UMD is now 8-1 against unranked squads … The Bulldogs are 17-6-1 all-time against Harvard … Harvard's goal in the first period broke a 192:49 shutout streak the Bulldogs had against the Crimson since January of 2022 … it was the first time Harvard had logged a goal against UMD in four games … Thea Johansson extended her current scoring streak to five games … the senior from Sweden now has recorded three goals and three assists for six points in her last five games … Caitlin Kraemer and Danielle Burgen also extended their current scoring streaks … Kraemer now has five assists in her last four games, while Burgen has a four-game scoring spree with two goals three assists for five points … UMD will face Quinnipiac Saturday afternoon … the Bulldogs are upside down all-time against the Bobcats 1-3-1, and are winless in their last four skates.