Icewomen Beat Bowdoin, 9-0

After clinching the Ivy League title last Saturday at Princeton, the Harvard women's hockey team was not ready to sit back on its laurels for last night's contest.

The icewomen came out loaded for bear at Bright Center. Polar bear, that is.

And after all the shooting was over, the Crimson put its seventh consecutive notch on its Bowdoin gun barrel with a 9-0 drubbing of the Polar Bears in front of 45 fans.

Harvard (12-6-1 overall) wasted little time--16 seconds to be exact--in getting the game-winning goal. And who better to get it than sophomore sensation Char Joslin, who had scored five out of the Crimson's last eight goals coming into last night's action.

Moments later, junior Julia Trotman tipped a Nina Simonds point blast past Bowdoin goaltender Erin Miller. Joslin then added a shorthanded goal while Co-Captain Julie Sasner was in the penalty box for tripping.

Meanwhile, Bowdoin (7-10 overall) was trying to find a way to put the puck past freshman goalie Gillian D'Souza.

"She was stellar, especially in the second period," Sasner said. "She was tested, while in other games she wasn't. It's good sign for the future."

Indeed, D'Souza made some good saves in that middle stanza, though she found herself down on the ice a couple of times amid the frequent pile-ups in front of her.

And Harvard kept on scoring on its opportunities. Jane Kalinski put in a 50-footer, while Co-Captain Johanna Neilson and senior Karen Carney finished off well-conceived passing plays. The rout was on.

Moments into the third period, D'Souza was spilled by a collision between a Bowdoin and a Harvard player.

"I thought, `I got one [save] off the end of my stick and one off the cross bar and now this,'" D'souza said.

D'Souza finished the game with a stiff shoulder. But the minor injury had little effect on the freshman's third shutout this season, because Harvard opened up its offense and kept the puck in the Polar Bears' end for most of the third period.

Barely five minutes after the mishap that felled D'Souza, Joslin completed her second hat trick in the last three games with a blast by backup goaltender Suzanne walker--who had come in at the beginning of the third period--after which Sasner and Neilson mercifully finished off the scoring.

"It was one of my better games this season," D'Souza said. "I had a way better attitude."

THE NOTEBOOK:Joslin now has eight goals in the last three games...D'Souza's other two shutouts were against Boston University, 9-0, and Boston College, 11-0...Junior Catherine Wolfram had a memorable last shift in the third period. She skated off the bench and directed the puck towards the right wing. Wolfram then set up in the left corner and was spilled going for the puck. She then skated towards the slot where she was promptly dumped in front by a Bowdoin player a foot taller than she and twice stopped Polar Bear rushes by keeping the puck in the zone. "Instead of calling her "Mad Dog," we ought to call her "Mad Crease," D'Souza said...Harvard closes out its regular season when it plays Dartmouth Wednesday, after which it hosts the Ivy League tournament.