Icewomen on Rebound, Swamp Catamounts, 12-6

It may not have been the most logical follow-up to Tuesday's 11-1 loss to the University of New Hampshire, but the Harvard women's hockey team isn't complaining.

The icewomen came up with a little scoring power of their own Saturday afternoon and crunched the University of Vermont, 12-6, in Burlington, Vt.

The victory brought the Crimson's record to 3-2 overall,2-1 in the Ivies.

"We had a lot of people finding the scoring touch," said Harvard Assistant Coach Bill MacDonald. "That's one thing we've been weak on so far."

The scoring explosion was something of a delayed fuse, however, as an entire period elapsed before either squad connected for a goal.

Then UVM notched a pair of goals to start the second period, which acted as catalysts for reviving the Crimson offense.

"We were a little shaky at the start," Tri-Captain Genie Simmons noted. "Then all of a sudden they scored two goals and we all realized that we should really be winning."

What a difference six minutes can make. Before Vermont could catch its breath, Harvard had charged back, scoring on six consecutive shifts.

Freshman Karen Carney knocked in three goals, and Johanna Neilson, Liz Ward, and Christine Dooley contributed individual tallies to give the Crimson a 6-2 edge.

"We didn't do a think with the puck in the first period, but we really picked up in the second period and broke it open then," said Carney.

Although the Catamounts inched back with two goals in the closing minutes of the stanza, simmons responded with one for Harvard, to bring the score to 7-4.

And nobody had any notions of letting up in the third period, either.

Dinny Starr, Neilson and Ward punched shots past UVM goalie katherine Stan to push the Crimson into double digits for the first time this season.

Harvard and UVM traded off goals as the clock wound down, Sasner scoring a pair for the Crimson to counter tallies by Catamounts Anna Rahan and Cathy Cope.

"We're getting much better at putting the puck in the net," MacDonald said.

Freshman defender Julie Sasner agreed, citing experience picked up from the UNH game. "We learned from UNH--just the way they moved the puck. I think we picked up a lot of little things."

The 12-6 victory over UVM, which plays at the club rather than the varsity level, came as a much-needed boost after last week's lopsided loss.

"We're starting to believe in ourselves, let alone have the other teams believe in us," said Sasner. "We're having a great time."

THE NOTEBOOK: The icewomen have two home games coming up this week... The Crimson hosts Boston College Tuesday night.