Icewomen Tackle Yale, 3-0

The Harvard women's hockey team opened its Ivy League season with a 3-0 shutout against Yale Saturday in New Haven.

The only thing that kept the game from getting out of hand was a strong performance by Yale's goaltending duo of Tiffany Bingham and Maureen Magurian. The Crimson (2-1 ECAC, 1-0 Ivy) kept the pressure on Yale, aiming 57 shots at the two netminders.

In comparison, Harvard goaltender and Tri-Captain Jen White was hardly tested. She only had to turn back 16 Elis shots.

Freshman Sandra Whyte opened the Crimson scoring eight minutes into the first period. Tri-Captain Brita Lind was forechecking and managed to scrape the puck loose at the blue line. She handed it to Whyte, who put it past Bingham with a low stick side shot.

Harvard kept up the pressure and struck again on the power play near the end of the first period. Lind, Whyte, Tri-Captain Julia Trotman, freshman Beverly Stickles, and junior Char Joslin teamed up for some great passing combinations to set up a goal by Lind. Lind took a perfect pass from defensman Stickles and stuck the puck in the net.

The final Crimson goal came off a play set up off a rebound shot by Lind. After Joslin drove the puck up the ice and took a shot, Lind scored from the opposite side of the net.

Unofficially, Joslin netted a beauty in the third period. The only person that missed it was the referee, according to Harvard Coach John Dooley.

Aside from that frustrating incident, Dooley was pleased with his team's performance and optimistic about the rest of the season.

"There was some super goaltending and all our goals were super goals," Dooley said. "We have a young team and the lines and defense pairings aren't used to playing with each other yet. As the year progresses, they'll begin to understand each other's tendencies, and we'll get better and better."

Lind was excited about the win although she believes the players were nervous and the play was unsettled. She hopes the team will be able to capitalize more on rebounds to score more often as the season continues.

"They (Yale) had a very well coached team who was sky high to play us--everyone wants to knock off Harvard," Dooley said. "We'll have to play with the same intensity and emotion [against Brown in Providence Tuesday]."