Icewomen Rout Huskies in First Win

Winning may not be everything in sport, but it sure makes the experience worth-while.

The Harvard women's ice hockey team played inspired hockey last night, trouncing Connecticut, 7-1, for its first victory in three outings this season at Bright Rink.

Harvard outskated the Huskies for most of the contest but the Crimson's extra hustle--checking all over the ice and scrambling for loose pucks--really made the difference. Harvard's 32-16 shots-on-goal advantage reflects the icewomen's domination.

The Crimson owned the first period as all three Harvard lines threatened Connecticut netminder Rebecca Ardazo right from the opening faceoff.

Freshman winger Diane Hurley put Harvard on the scoreboard for the first time this season, unleashing a sizzling wrist shot from the left side at 6:28 of the first period. Hurley took a feed from Amy Spaulding and faked a pass to slip around the Huskie defenseman for the open shot.

After that tally, Harvard was flying high and Ardazo was in for a long night. The second line got into the act next, as Sue Yunick capped two minutes of constant pressure in the Connecticut end with a put-in at 14:12. Julie Starr centered the puck to Alex Lightfoot who lifted a wrist shot which Ardazo knocked aside, but onto Yunick's waiting stick.

Sara Fischer, Harvard's career leading point scorer, capitalized on another Huskie failure to clear the puck, knocking in a rebound at 16:41. Taking a Hurley pass, co-captain Lauren Norton, an All-Ivy defenseman last year, rifled a shot off Ardazo's stick glove, which Fischer converted in front of the next to give the Crimson a 3-0 lead.

In the ensuing argument about Fischer being in the crease when she scored, Ardazo received a misconduct penalty for punching the referee in the back of the head.

Connecticut skated Harvard even in the second stanza but again the Crimson's second efforts created numerous opportunities. Sophomore Lightfoot, last year's leading goal and point scorer, added a goal to her assist at 4:29, assisted by Mara MacTaggart.

Vicki Palmer put the game out of reach with a pair of tallies.

An in-close stuff from co-captain Firkins Reed followed just seven seconds after Palmer tapped in a rebound from Reed and MacTaggart at 17:04. Newcomer Jennifer White rounded out the scoring with a third period tally assisted by Carol Buttenwieser and Barb Coffin.

Credit Harvard goalie Laura Zuckerman, filling in for injured Cheryl Tate, and the entire defensive corps with a strong performance. The blueliners looked impressive and added to the offensive pressure by holding their points and dumping the puck back into the Connecticut zone.