Icewomen Top Wesleyan

It took just 27 seconds last night and then it was Miller Time for the Harvard women's ice hockey team.

For that's how long it took Vicki Palmer to steal the puck from Wesleyar, defender Joyce Galt, skate the length of the ice and deposit the puck into the Cardinal twines to put Harvard up 1-0.

And by game's end, nine other icewomen had done the same, as the Crimson handed Wesleyan a 10-0 shellacking at Bright Center. The impressive victory evened the Crimson's record at 5-5, while the winless Cardinals dropped their eighth game of the season.

But not even the fact that the tirumph came over such a lowly team could lessen the importance of last night's win. The Crimson had taken a two-week break from competition and had not practiced as a unit until Tuesday.

"We knew what we were doing when we scheduled this game," Harvard Assistant Couch Bill MacDonald said. "We realized we would be rusty after two weeks off and that we'd need to play a team that couldn't match up."

From the start it was apparent that the Cardinals couldn't match up. The icewomen used a hefty size advantage to control the puck, keeping Wesleyan on the defensive. With the disk in their zone for much of the evening, the Cardinals could only manage nine shots on goal, while Harvard took 44.

Palmer's early goal proved to be all the Crimson would need, but signs of the layoff soon showed as the icewomen missed several early scoring opportunities.

"We were extremely sloppy in that first period," Harvard Coach John Dooley said "We'd move the puck, but then we just couldn't finish off the shot Finally, the rhythm started to come back"

And come back it did After a last-second goal at the end of the first period, the Crimson exploded for the five scores in the second 20-minutes. Despite several diving saves by Wesleyan goalie Janice Mira (34 saves), the icewomen assaulted the net with second and third shots to steadily increase the Harvard lead.

"We really seemed to be staying on top of the puck," Donley said. "That's something we hadn't been doing and hopefully we'll keep it up."

With the score 7-0 and the game securely in hand. Dooley had an opportunity to do something he hadn't done in a while--use his bench. And that provided a chance for some new names to enter the scoring book.

Most notable was the performance of backup goalie Tracy Kimmell, who took over for Cheryl Tate (four saves) "It was awful lonely out three." Tate said after the game "But at least the team won and Tracy got to play And she played really well." Kimmell finished with five saves in the final 20.

And at the 609 mark of the final stanza, freshmen Christine (the second Dooley generation to be a part of Harvard hockey) scored her first varsity goal. One more goal by Liz Ward rounded out the scoring.

"This was quite an important win for us," the elder Dooley said "We're at a disadvantage because we haven't been practicing but hopefully this will give us the momentum we need as we begin our stretch run for the title." THE NOTEBOOK Dooley praised the play of both Sue Newell and Kathy Carroll Newell provided two assists on two Carroll goals. The icewomen travel to Yale Saturday for an important Ivy match. The Crimson will open the defense of last year's Bean pot championship Tuesday night against Boston College at Bright Center Game time is 6 p.m. and admission is free. At Bright Center Harvard  2  5  3  10 Wesleyan  0  0  0  0

H Vicki Palmer (Diane Hurley Kathy Carroll) 27 H. Diane Hurley (Megan Berthold Carroll) 19 34 H Alex Lightfoot (Jennifer White Liz Ward) 2 07 H Dinny Starr (Genie Simmons) 3 40 H White (Hurley) 5 43 H. Carroll (Sue Newell) 10 11 H Carroll (Newell) 15 56 H Simmons (Starr) 5 38 H Christine Dooley (Berthold) 6 09 H Ward (White Light foot) 13 36.

Saves: Harvard Cheryl Tate 2.2--4 Tracy Kimmell, 5-5; Wesleyan Janice Mira 12-9-13--34

H Vicki Palmer (Diane Hurley Kathy Carroll) 27 H. Diane Hurley (Megan Berthold Carroll) 19 34 H Alex Lightfoot (Jennifer White Liz Ward) 2 07 H Dinny Starr (Genie Simmons) 3 40 H White (Hurley) 5 43 H. Carroll (Sue Newell) 10 11 H Carroll (Newell) 15 56 H Simmons (Starr) 5 38 H Christine Dooley (Berthold) 6 09 H Ward (White Light foot) 13 36.

Saves: Harvard Cheryl Tate 2.2--4 Tracy Kimmell, 5-5; Wesleyan Janice Mira 12-9-13--34