Icewomen Bow to B.U., Suffer Second Shutout, 7-0

A second straight loss to the same opponent is usually no harbinger of hope, especially if the margin of defeat widens on the second try. But Harvard women's hockey coach Rita Harder saw signs of improvement in last night's 7-0 loss to Boston University.

"We're still too many individuals not working enough as a team yet," Harder said, "but we looked better than last week, especially in the first period."

The Crimson team that came out in the first period did indeed look much improved over the squad that dropped its season opener at B.U., 4-0, last Tuesday. The icewomen and the Terriers were even in shots on goal after the opening stanza at eight apiece, and both teams had seen some good scoring opportunities.

Why, then, was Harvard down 2-0 after the first twenty minutes? Simple. They ran into a hot goalie. B.U.'s Joan Weston made two excellent saves at key points in the first period to rob the Crimson of a couple of goals.

With these two goals Harvard would have been very much in the contest. As it was the offense came into the second stanza somewhat demoralized and definitely less aggressive.

With the Crimson offense now unable to click, the Terriers managed to control the play. Outshooting the icewomen 13-6 in the middle period, they racked up four quick goals to put things out of reach.

The first goal of this barrage came at 3:02 of the second period. B.U.'s Nancy Mike took a hard slapshot from the left point that went right at the stick of Crimson goalie Cheryl Tate. Tate made the save, but the Terriers' Nancy Kilik was right in front of the crease to take the rebound and pass it to leading-scorer Julie Devine, who slotted it past an outstretched Tate for the score.

Devine scored again for B.U. along with Kilik and Debbie Gautreau to make it 6-0 after two. In the final period the Crimson regained its composure and again played even with the Terriers. After allowing another goal by Gautreau in the opening moments, the women pucksters put good pressure on Weston. But the Terrier netminder was still equal to the challenge and turned away every Harvard drive to preserve her shutout.

THE NOTEBOOK: Tate looked good in goal despite the seven tallies and had to leave the game after being hit hard on the last goal. Her replacement, Laura Zuckerman, was flawless the rest of the way, turning away nine shots.