No. 1 W. Hockey to Face Brown

For the second week in a row, the top two women's hockey teams in the country will battle for the nation's No. 1 ranking and sole possession of first place in the ECAC at the Bright Hockey Center Saturday in a 2 p.m. face-off. This time, however, there is more at stake. Harvard wants to win this game for personal reasons, as well.

No. 2 Brown (15-2-3, 15-2-3 ECAC) put the only blemish in No. 1 Harvard's otherwise spectacular season by defeating the Crimson (20-1-0, 16-1-1), 4-2, in Providence Nov. 15. Harvard has reeled off 17 consecutive victories since that game, good for the nation's longest winning streak, but the Bears are still the only ECAC team that has not lost to the Crimson this year.

"This game is very important for us because we want to prove to Brown and the rest of the league that we weren't playing our best early in the season," freshman defenseman Angela Ruggiero said. "Also, we have to win this game in order to stay in the race for the Ivy League championship. We hate losing to any Ivy team."

Saturday's game will feature five of the 10 candidates nominated Tuesday for the 1999 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award--given to the most outstanding player in women's hockey--in Harvard's A.J. Mleczko, Tammy Shewchuk and Ruggiero and Brown's Tara Mounsey and Ali Brewer. Harvard will face another Kazmaier Award candidate, Providence's Sara DeCosta, when the Crimson hosts the Friars Sunday at 2 p.m.

All five former Olympians now playing in the ECAC--DeCosta, Mounsey, Ruggiero, Mleczko and Harvard's Jen Botterill--will skate in the Bright Center this weekend.

Brown defeated No. 6 Providence (13-5-2, 16-6-2) Wednesday, 4-1, and moved into a tie for first place with Harvard. The Bears and the Crimson have 33 conference points each, four points ahead of No. 3 New Hampshire and five points ahead of Providence.

Besides the standings, the polls and the star players, hockey fans will have a chance to see perhaps the most intriguing match-up in the conference between the Crimson offense and the Bear defense. Harvard scores 6.57 goals per game, best in the ECAC, while Brown gives up a conference-low 1.15 goals a contest. The Bears are the only team that has held the Crimson to less than three goals in a game this season.

The Brown defense is led by junior goaltender Ali Brewer, the 1998 ECAC Tournament MVP. Brewer is first in the conference with a 1.14 goals against average (GAA) and a .943 save percentage. She made 30 saves against Harvard in Providence.

But the Crimson has faced a slew of hot netminders in the last two weeks, including Alicia Roberts of New Hampshire. She made 46 saves last Saturday but Harvard's relentless offensive attack--as well as first-rate taunting by a record Bright Center crowd of 1,651 rowdy fans that most ECAC goalies have never had to deal with before--finally wore Roberts down and she gave up three goals in the last 15 minutes of the game.

"In order to get to Brewer we will have to light her up early," Ruggiero said. "We can't let her control the tempo of the game and we need to make sure she doesn't gain confidence as the game progresses. This is another huge game and it would be great to have the same kind of support from the fans that we had last week."

Brewer gets plenty of help from sophomore Tara Mounsey, one of two ECAC defensemen who played in the 1998 Olympics. Mounsey has padded Brewer's numbers by sealing off the interior and forcing opponents to take conservative shots from the blue line and the boards.

"Mounsey is very aggressive," said Ruggiero, the other Olympic defenseman in the conference. "She is not afraid of stepping in front of forwards, and she doesn't let anyone walk into the slot. If we are going to challenge her, we'll have to move the puck with crisp passes because it's not easy to skate around her."

Brewer and Mounsey should have their hands full against a Crimson offense that has averaged 7.75 goals per game after exam period. Harvard's top forward line consists of the nation's three highest scorers in co-captain A.J. Mleczko (22 goals-48 assists-70 points), sophomore Tammy Shewchuk (25-32-57) and freshman Jen Botterill (23-30-53). Mleczko and Botterill are the reigning ECAC Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively.

While the key match-up will take place in Harvard's offensive zone, the game could be decided by what happens on the other end of the ice. Brown is fourth in the conference in scoring at 4.70 goals a game but its highest individual scorer is a defenseman--Mounsey (11-17-28). Junior Jordan Jiskra (11-15-26), who is 27th in the conference in points, leads all Bear forwards in scoring.

But Harvard will need freshman goaltender Alison Kuusisto to continue to improve between the pipes. Kuusisto is 4-0-0 in her career and has made three consecutive starts since junior Crystal Springer went down with a broken collarbone, forcing her to miss at least the rest of the regular season. After giving up six goals in the first round of the Beanpot against No. 5 Northeastern, Kuusisto settled down to make 15 saves against New Hampshire and 19 saves against Boston College.

The goaltender under the spotlight in Sunday's game, however, will be Providence sophomore Sara DeCosta. The only ECAC netminder who played in the Olympics, DeCosta in sixth in the conference with a 2.11 GAA and third with a .930 save percentage.

"DeCosta is a butterfly-style goalie who is quick to the puck on the first shot," Ruggiero said. "We will have to be aggressive getting to the rebounds and bury our second shots because she doesn't let many first shots get past her."

Offensively, the Friars will look to Corinne Rosen (15-16-31), Katie Lachappelle (12-19-31) and 1998 ECAC Rookie of the Year Jess Tabb (15-13-28) for scoring.