Is Anybody Home?

It's good to be back. Some thoughts:

Last Tuesday the Harvard women's ice hockey team lost the Beanpot title game to Northeastern at Bright Center in front of 100 spectators.

At the men's Beanpot final, 14,448 fans watched the Crimson defeat Boston University.

When the women play at Bright, you can hear the puck drop. But when the men play, you can't even hear the person sitting next to you.

The men's team deserves all the praise and support it's receiving. The squad is one of the most exciting teams at Harvard. But there is another team that plays at Bright--and it's pretty exciting, too.

The women's team is once again dominating the Ivies. For the third year in a row.

"We have sort of a loyal following, which includes family and friends," Harvard Tri-Captain Julia Trotman said. "It would be a thrill to play in front of 5000 fans like the guys. We wonder what it would be like. But we understand it's not quite as exciting. But our fans are good, solid fans."

Why isn't the band at any of the women's home games? It would be nice to hear "Sieve, Sieve." Or just the basic "Scoreboard, Scoreboard" would suffice.

Granted, watching Lane MacDonald and Allen Bourbeau skate is exciting, but Char Joslin and Julia Trotman aren't that bad, either.

Just imagine if the Harvard Hares decided to attend at least one women's hockey game.

Women's Basketball

Haven't we played you before?

The second half of the Harvard women's basketball Ivy League season begins today. The Crimson (12-7 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) hosts Cornell tonight and Columbia tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in Briggs Cage.

In its previous meetings in January, Harvard breezed past the Lions, 69-56. The Big Red, however, almost snagged an upset, taking the Crimson to the edge, 69-68.

It has been a week of horror for the Crimson. Not only did Harvard drop its first Ivy League game to Brown, 82-74, last Saturday, but the Crimson faltered in the first half of its game against the University of Massachusetts last Tuesday and suffered a 70-67 loss.

Harvard hopes its last-second defeat to UMass will spur the team to play with greater intensity.

"It should make us come out stronger at the beginning of the game," Harvard Co-Captain Beth Chandler said.

Skiing

The Harvard ski teams competed in an eight-team tournament last weekend to prepare for this weekend's Division II Championships.

The women captured their share of the tournament, edging out Colby, 216-214. The men placed fourth behind MIT, Bowdoin and Colby.

Amber Duncan led the women skiers, winning the 10-k crosscountry race by two-and-a-half minutes.

Spanning the Globe

One of the leading scorers for the Brown women's basketball team is Maia Baker. The junior, who had 13 points in the Crimson-Bruins match-up, is from London.

After the game, Baker spoke about the differences between American and British sports.

"In England, we have a social tea after a game. Here, it's 'them and us'," Baker said. "I'm blown over by the intensity of the competition."

Track and Field

Meets come and meets go, but some you wait for, pray for and practice long and hard for.

The Harvard track team's tri-meet against Ivy League rivals, Princeton and Yale tomorrow is one of those meets.

"This is the biggest meet of the year," sprinter and long jumper Derek Horner said. "They're extremely tough."

"H.Y.P.'s are such a rivalry," sprinter Meredith Rainey said. "People are really getting excited. We've been working hard all season and we're ready. These will be the two toughest teams we've faced so far. In order to win, we're going to have to have everybody performing and performing well."

After last weekend's disappointing showing against Dartmouth and Brown, changes will be made in the lineup. Coach Frank Haggerty said that last week's lineup was an experimental one. This week, Haggerty will return to the standard lineup.

The Crimson will have some of its injured and ill who missed last week's meet back on the squad.

MAC Basketball

The Crimson 84, The Independent 58. The Indy was correct when it called it an "upset." It actually won one of the three games played.

Quote of the Week

"Today was a good showing of where we stand. We showed that we have the power of a wooly mammoth, the stamina of an okapi, the spring of a wallaby and the intensity of a mother bear guarding her cubs."--Harvard squash player George Polsky after the Crimson defeated Dartmouth, 7-2, Wednesday.

Runner-up

"Up until a week or so ago, I was coach 'Horn.' I was everybody's buddy. Now I walk in and I'm the man with the stick. You got to let them know who's in charge. This is not a democracy, it's a dictatorship."--Arizona interim basketball Coach Bob Schermerhorn.

Angela M. Payne and Christine Dimino contributed to this story.