Icewomen Rally to Down Brown, 4-3, As Hurley's Hat Trick Ruins Bruins

The Harvard women's hockey team stumbled through the first period Saturday afternoon at Brown, but it was the Bruins who faltered toward the end as Harvard pulled out a 4-3, come-from-behind victory.

Left wing Dianne Hurley's two third-period goals--completing a hat trick--put the Crimson over the top, the game-winner coming with less than four minutes left. On the decisive play Hurley took a pass from linemate Liz Ward behind the net and scored on a wrap-around, stuffing the puck between the goalie's pads and the post.

Sloppy

Before the icewomen's late-game surge, the contest was by no means all Crimson. "The first period was really sloppy," co-captain Firkins Reed said. "We had a total lack of communication." Jennifer Volchick put the Bruins, last year's Ivy co-champs, on the board first, beating Crimson goalie Cheryl Tate at 15:11.

Between periods the Crimson "got a really strong pep talk from [coach John Dooley]," according to Hurley. It obviously impressed her, since she tied the game just 43 seconds into the second period, converting a pass from blueliner Amy Spalding.

Two shifts later, at the 4:01 mark, left winger Susan Newell put the Crimson ahead, 2-1, scoring off a pass from linemate Alex Lightfoot.

A quick pair of mid-period penalties enabled Brown to get back in the game. With half the starting Crimson defense--Julie Starr and Debbie Taft--in the sin bin, Amy Crafts scored at 12:56 to tie the contest again. And just a few minutes later, at 16:41, Crafts set up a tally by Pam Boone which gave the Bruins a 3-2 edge at the second intermission.

But the Bruins, playing with only two offensive lines, started to tire as the third period began. And, "once we got the puck into their zone," Hurley said, "we really outplayed them." In particular, Hurley and her linemates Ward and center Tania Huber, outplayed them. Huber and Ward assisted on Hurley's second goal of the game, at 7:40. Hurley took a pass from Ward in front of the net and deked past Brown netminder Janice Moody to pull the Crimson even. That set the stage for Hurley's game-winner, also assisted by both her linemates, nine minutes later. THE NOTEBOOK: The shots-on-goal stats were Harvard 28, Brown 18... In its three games so far, the Crimson has outshot its opponents 113-35... The Crimson hopes to avenge its earlier 1-0 loss to B.U. this Tuesday. Faceoff is 8 p.m. at the Bright Center.