Icewomen Slip In Ivies; Cornell, Brown Split Title

Ever wonder if you could have a really good time if you gave a party and had to do all the work? The women's hockey team invited the rest of the league to the sixth annual Ivy Tournament--not exactly a party but lots of fun for almost everyone--this weekend at the Bright Center. The fourth-seeded Crimson hoped for a strong showing, maybe a third, or with a few breaks, a shot at the crown in the finals.

But, like a hostess who forgets to serve her prized dessert so that afterward only she knows what the guests have missed, the icewomen left their aggressive skating in the locker room during the second period of both their contests, suffered two hapless losses, and settled for a disappointing sixth place.

After Friday night's heartbreaking 3-2 upset loss to Dartmouth in overtime--a contest decided by a simultaneous one-on-one penalty shot showdown following ten minutes of scoreless sudden death action--Harvard got rolling Saturday only after spotting Yale three goals. The Crimson's comeback attempt failed as the Elis triumphed, 4-2, in the consolation game for fifth place.

The setbacks, to teams the icewomen defeated twice each during the regular season, sour the conclusion of Harvard's most successful campaign in the squad's three-year varsity history.

Rita Harder's skaters hung up their jerseys Saturday for the last time this season spooting a 7-12 overall and 4-5 Ivy ledger. Despite this year's four Ivy victories, the Crimson has never won a game in the league tournament.

Cornell, on the other hand, has never lost a game in the tournament, capturing all five Ivy crowns since the competition was established in 1976. The Big Red extended its skein of unbeaten games this year but settled for a co-championship with Brown. The coaches decided to call Sunday's championship game a tie with the scoreboard reading four-all after the fourth sudden-death overtime period.

Cornell--which skated two lines for most of the 60 minutes following the second stanza--came back with two goals in the last six minutes of regulation play, including a short-handed tally by co-captain Brenda Condon with two minutes left. But Bill Duthie's squad, led by Ivy scoring champ Marg Degidio, could not convert on a 43-second, five-on-three advantage in the first extra period and numerous other changes in overtime.

MVP

Credit netminder Janice Moody, who handled 39 Cornell drives and was named tournament MVP after the contest, and the Brown defensive corps for denying successive salvos from Degidio and her linemates, Cindy Warren and Diane Dillon, probably the most talented trio in the league.

The co-championship attests to the spreading of talent in the Ivies. No longer can Cornell walk away with the crown as it did last year, defeating Brown, 9-2, in the semis, and Princeton, 6-2, in the finals.

Four of this weekend's seven matchups were decided in overtime. Princeton, which dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to Brown in the semis, took out its frustration on Dartmouth by the identical score in overtime to gain third-place honors.

As for the Crimson, next year's tournament is already on the calendar. Harvard will sorely miss graduating seniors Lauren Norton, Sara Fischer, Carol Buttenwieser and Lisa Glen, but coach Harder, the only female mentor in the league, hopes for another good recruiting year. Says Harder, "We've come a long way this year. It's unfortunate that we didn't show it in the tournament."