B.C. Outskates Icewomen, 3-1

The Harvard women's hockey team, featuring new line combinations, played two of its best periods of hockey this season but fell short in the final stanza, dropping a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to a strong Boston College squad last night at McCue Rink.

With 6:31 remaining and the game deadlocked at 1-1, Eagle wing Connie Wilson unleashed a slapshot on the fly, followed up her own rebound, and flipped the puck past Crimson netminder Cheryl Tate for the game winner.

"We came close, but close wasn't enough," coach Rita Harder said after the game. "We dominated the game, but the little extra push just wasn't there in the third period."

The score does not do justice to the Crimson skaters, who played inspired hockey and controlled the puck for most of the game, outhustling B.C., checking all over the ice, and creating their own opportunities.

The little extra that the Eagles relied on was goalie Peggy Cameron, probably the best netminder in the league, who performed brilliantly for the entire contest, stopping at total of 36 Harvard shots. Cameron repeatedly denied Crimson threats with acrobatic kick saves, the most important of which came with the score still tied ten minutes into the third period when Cameron just deflected a Lauren Norton smash destined for the lower righthand corner of the goal.

At Monday's practice, Harder shuffled a few key skaters on two lines rather than three in an effort to awaken a dormant scoring punch. She has assembled a dramatically improved hockey team which can skate evenly with any squad, especially after it adjusts to the changes.

On the first line, last year's leading scorer Alex Lightfoot centers for Fischer, the team's career point scoring leader, and yardling Diane Hurley. Co-captain Firkins Reed faces off between Sue Yunick and Vicki Palmer on the second line.

On defense, Norton, a first-team All-Ivy selection last year who debuted at center this season, returned to the blue line to join Alice Hill. Julie Starr also retreats to the point, pairing with freshman Deb Taft on second defense.

Aided by two Eagle penalties, Harvard penetrated early, setting up pretty combinations which all seemed to end with sliding Cameron saves. On the first power play, Reed stickhandled through the B.C. defense, and fed to Palmer, who rifled a low bullet which Cameron managed to defect by Sue Yunick waiting for the rebound.

Excited

Hungry for a goal after dominating the first period, the icewomen continued their aggressive skating and precision passing in the second stanza. Hurley finally broke the ice, with her second goal of the season, to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead at the 2:53 mark.

Lightfoot collected the rebound of a Hurley shot and deftly fed back to Hurley, who drilled the puck into the upper righthand corner of the net from the left side of the crease.

With Harvard seemingly in control, B.C. got a break and knotted the score two minutes later. Eagle Lynn Murray intercepted an errant clearing pass at the Harvard blue line and fired a drive at a screened Tate. The shot deflected off a skater in front and floated over Tate's shoulder.