No. 1 W. Hockey Survives Yale, Routs Princeton

The No. 1 Harvard women's hockey team turned in a blue-collar performance yesterday against Princeton to bounce back from last week's loss to No. 7 St. Lawrence and complete a sweep of the Big Three series.

The Crimson (8-2-0, 6-2-0 ECAC) took care of the Tigers, 7-1, after escaping last-place Yale, 4-3, Saturday. The difference in the two games was the final period.

Against Princeton (4-5-2, 3-5-1), Harvard turned it on in the third, capitalizing on a five-minute major penalty against the Tigers for four goals early in the period. That was the opposite of the third period against Yale (1-10-0, 0-9-0), when the Crimson narrowly survived a late comeback that saw the Elis score three unanswered goals in the final 13 minutes of regulation.

More importantly, Harvard welcomed back senior goaltender Crystal Springer, who made her first two starts between the pipes since spraining a knee at Minnesota Nov. 7. Springer made 37 saves and allowed four goals on the weekend to improve her record to 4-0-0.

And the Crimson will throw another welcome-back party today when junior winger Tammy Shewchuk and sophomore center Jen Botterill return to Cambridge. They spent the last two weeks playing for the Canadian National Team in the Three Nations Cup. Before they left, Shewchuk and Botterill had been the top two scorers in the ECAC.

While Shewchuk and Botterill were in Montreal, Harvard lost to St. Lawrence--the only ranked team it played during that stretch. The Crimson also struggled to one-goal victories over a pair of lower-division teams, Cornell and Yale, before exploding against Princeton.

"We really learned a lot over the past two weeks," said Harvard Coach Katey Stone. "We responded as well as we could and everybody is playing with a lot of confidence now. We showed that we're not a two-player team."

With the two wins, the Crimson moved into sole possession of fourth place in the conference.

Harvard 7, Princeton 1

The Crimson came to play where it mattered yesterday--in the defensive zone.

Harvard held Princeton's high-scoring trio of Andrea Kilbourne and Annamarie and Nikola Holmes in check. The Tigers' only goal came from forward Melissa Deland late in the third, after the Crimson had already scored seven goals.

"This was one of the best games we've played all season," Stone said. "We really dictated play after the first three minutes of the game. We were breaking the puck out of the defensive zone really well."

But the game was close until the final period. Harvard outshot Princeton 21-15 through the first two periods, but it only led 2-0.

Junior center Kiirsten Suurkask scored the eventual game-winning goal with 5:59 left in the second when she grabbed a loose puck in the slot and sent it top-shelf past Princeton goaltender Sarah Alquist to give the Crimson a two-goal lead.

Suurkask tied a career-high with five points yesterday, including a goal and three assists during Harvard's power-play explosion early in the third.

"We had been getting chances on the power play throughout the game," Suurkask said. "But we weren't finishing on them and it was frustrating. Then it just all came together at once."

Harvard's extended man-advantage began 19 seconds into the final period thanks to a major penalty for boarding against Annamarie Holmes. That put Holmes, who is second amongst all defensemen in the conference in scoring behind Harvard's Angela Ruggiero, in the penalty box for five minutes.

Harvard junior forward Angie Francisco went to the box 19 seconds later. When she returned, however, the Crimson piled up four power-play goals in a span of 1:21, including two from junior forward Tara Dunn and one each from Suurkask and Ruggiero. Senior forward Courtney Smith's first goal of the season finished off Harvard's scoring at 9:14 of the third.

Before the scoring outburst, however, it was the defense that stifled Princeton. The Tigers took 21 shots, but Kilbourne and the Holmes sisters could not produce any quality scoring sequences.

"My defensemen played great today," Springer said. "We were forcing them to take bad shots or not giving them good opportunities to score."

Led by Ruggiero and her blueline partner, freshman Jamie Hagerman, the defense did not let Princeton set up its offense. The Crimson swept away most rebounds and immediately passed out of the defensive zone.

"Today we were poised in the defensive zone," Francisco said. "We were making good passes and they turned into good rushes going the other way."

Francisco opened the scoring for the Crimson 5:38 into the game on the power play. Ruggiero fired a slapshot on goal and Francisco knocked in the rebound from the post.

"I remember a fat rebound bouncing out of the crease," Francisco said. "I just tried to get my stick on it and I was surprised to see it go in."

Harvard 4, Yale 3

It appeared that Harvard had things under control halfway through the third period on Saturday, but the Bulldogs rallied for three goals in the last 13 minutes of regulation to give the Crimson a scare.

Yale forward Jane Resor put the Elis on the board 7:12 into the final period. Then an unsportsmanlike penalty against Smith and an interference penalty against Francisco gave the Bulldogs a five-on-three advantage for 1:49 with less than four minutes left.

Resor set up Yale defenseman Amy LeClair on the power play. Then LeClair returned the favor to Resor with 1:15 left to cut the Harvard lead to 4-3.

Springer, in her first game back from the injury, was tested early. At 17:48 of the first, a tripping penalty against junior defenseman Julie Rando gave Yale a penalty shot. It was the first penalty shot of Springer's career, but she stuffed forward Lisa Meyers--who was Yale's leading scorer heading into the game.

"I have to play against a lot of breakaways in practice," Springer said. "That's what a penalty shot is, so I was ready for it."

Yale goaltender Katie Hirte kept Harvard scoreless in the first period with 13 saves. But Suurkask and Dunn scored in the second. Freshman forward Tracy Catlin scored a shorthanded goal at 5:39 of the second, and Francisco netted the eventual game-winner 1:07 later.