JEN L. BOTTERILL '02

The No. 1 Harvard women's hockey team had to come from behind in the third period twice last week to keep the nation's longest winning streak rolling at 16 (now 17) games, and the catalyst of both rallies was freshman winger Jen Botterill.

Hot goaltending by Shannon Meyers of then-No. 6 Northeastern and Alicia Roberts of then-No. 2 New Hampshire--who combined to make 78 saves against the Crimson--kept the Harvard offense in check and gave both the Huskies and the Wildcats one-goal leads with less than 15 minutes left in regulation. But the Crimson continued to send a barrage of shots at the streaky netminders, and when Botterill was able to handle the puck cleanly and split the defense, she sent the puck flying into the back of the net time and again.

In the first round of the Beanpot at Northeastern, she teamed up with sophomore winger Tammy Shewchuk twice--first to force overtime and then to send Harvard into the Beanpot championship game. On both plays she received Shewchuk's feed around the right face-off circle and maneuvered through traffic into the slot before lofting the puck top-shelf, just beyond the reach of Meyer's glove. In Harvard's 9-0 championship game win over B.C., Botterill scored two goals and had three assists.

With the score tied at 2-2 and 10:28 left in regulation against UNH, Botterill accepted a pass from co-captain A.J. Mleczko in the right circle and sent a wristshot on goal. Roberts deflected the shot, but it careened off the post and into the net to give the Crimson its first lead of the game. Two minutes later, Botterill put the game out of reach by putting back the rebound of an Angela Ruggiero shot on the power play.

Botterill is tied for third in the ECAC with four game-winners, including the goals that clinched all three of Harvard's come-from-behind victories this season. Even without counting the Beanpot final, she recorded eight goals and one assist last week along with her second and third hat tricks of the year against Northeastern and Colby, respectively.

After the win against B.C., she has 23 goals and 30 assists for the season. Only two players in the nation--her linemates Mleczko and Shewchuk--have scored more than Botterill.

Botterill is aggressive to the puck, a gifted passer and has a knack for finding ways to score when Harvard needs goals most. In a pivotal week for her team, which played its first games against ranked opponents without starting goaltender Crystal Springer, Botterill stepped up and scored the biggest goals of her short collegiate career. That makes it easy for The Crimson to step up and name Jen Botterill its Athlete of the Week.