JV W. Hockey Wins First--Ever

Rarely do JV sports get coverage in The Crimson, but the Harvard women's JV hockey team, one of he few JV women's hockey program in the country, accomplished a feat that merits at least some recognition. A 4-2 win over the Holy Cross Crusaders gave the Crimson its first win in the history of the program.

You got to start somewhere, right?

The JV program made an informal and spastic attempt to get started last year but didn't succeed because of one minor problem--the coaches failed to show up for practice. But thanks to the efforts of sophomores Sara Winkler and Kaitlin McGraw, the JV's two co-captains this year, the JV women's hockey team became a formal part of Harvard athletics in 1997.

And the women have already shown that they are determined to make the program a success--coaches or no coaches.

Yesterday's win over Holy Cross certainly helped the Crimson's case. The match was the first collegiate game the Crimson has ever played, since all of its games to date have been against prep school teams. Holy Cross had won its last five games entering the game and sent its seasoned varsity against Harvard's JV.

The response was a four goal tantrum by the Crimson newcomers in their first legitimate collegiate game.

Junior Erika Lundquist scored the first goal of the contest, followed by freshman Mairead McKendry. Lundquist snapped another biscuit in for the third tally and senior Sara Cable's netter in the third period was the Crimson's final insult against the Crusaders.

"It was really fun, we got on a roll in the third period and started playing together..." Lundquist said. "I expect [the JV's first win] will make people more enthusiastic about [Harvard hockey] and attract more women who are interested in hockey."