W. Hockey Sweeps Weekend With Big Wins

The No. 2 Harvard women's hockey team will ride its longest winning streak of the season into the first round of the ECAC Tournament.

The Crimson (20-4-3, 17-4-3 ECAC), which has won its last six games, breezed past Ivy League rivals Princeton and Yale in the final weekend of the regular season. Harvard beat the Elis in New Haven, 5-1, after blanking the Tigers in Princeton, 6-0.

"We are pretty excited about where we are right now," said freshman winger Kalen Ingram, who had a goal and three assists on the road trip. "All three lines were scoring for us, and that is going to be key to winning in the playoffs."

No. 1 Brown (21-3-3, 19-2-3), Harvard's travel partner, also swept the Tigers and the Bulldogs to stay in first place.

Harvard will have the No. 2 seed in the ECAC tournament, and it will host a one-game quarterfinal against No. 7 seed St. Lawrence (18-13-1, 11-11-1 before yesterday's game at No. 4 New Hampshire) this weekend at Bright Hockey Center. If the Crimson defeats the Saints, it would advance to the semifinals at Brown's Meehan Auditorium the following Saturday.

As the regular season champion, Brown is assured of a berth in the American Women's College Hockey Alliance national championship tournament at Matthews Arena in Boston.

No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth (25-3-3, 21-1-2 WCHA) beat No. 3 Minnesota Saturday in the WCHA championship game and locked up an automatic bid to the AWCHA Tournament. A third bid will go the winner of the ECAC Tournament, and the final team to qualify will be decided by a selection committee.

Harvard 5, Yale 1

The Crimson's 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs at the Yale "Whale" on Saturday mercifully brought the 1999-2000 season to an end for Yale (6-22-1, 2-21-1), which finished the season with five points in the conference for 12th place in the ECAC standings.

The sophomore tandem of center Jen Botterill and defenseman Angela Ruggiero combined for three goals in the first two periods. Botterill's score 6:44 into the game, which was assisted by Ruggiero and Ingram, was the only score of the opening frame.

Botterill returned the favor by assisting on a Ruggiero goal to make it 2-0 at 6:44 of the second period. Ten minutes later, freshman winger Tracy Catlin padded the lead with help from junior center Angie Francisco and senior winger Courtney Smith.

It was Catlin's second goal of the weekend and the fifth of her rookie campaign.

"Angie led me with a pass that put me on a breakaway," Catlin said. "I kept the shot on the ice and it went through the five-hole."

Just 12 seconds later, Ruggiero followed up with her second goal of the day.

Deanna McDevitt put Yale on the scoreboard at 10:08 of the final period. Harvard junior winger Tara Dunn rounded out the scoring three minutes later with assists from Francisco and junior forward Kiirsten Suurkask.

The Crimson outshot the Elis, 44-21.

"It's always tough against a team like Yale to play to your opponent's level," Catlin said. "It was a sloppy game, but we played much better against Princeton."

Harvard 6, Princeton 0

Entering the final weekend, Princeton needed one win to pass idle Niagara in the standings and qualify for the ECAC Tournament. But the Tigers were swept by the two best teams in the country--Brown and Harvard.

The twilight of Princeton's season began Friday night at Hobey Baker Rink, when the Crimson shut out the Tigers (11-13-5, 9-12-3) on their home ice.

"We knew going in that they needed the two points, and we were ready for anything they would throw at us," Ingram said. "They come out strong but we adjusted well in the second and third periods."

Ingram scored the lone goal of the opening stanza. At 14:09 of the first period she joined Botterill and junior winger Tammy Shewchuk around the net to give Harvard the lead for good.

"I was covering the point for Rugger, and when I joined the play down deep, I was uncovered," Ingram said. "Bots got me the puck and I was free to put it in."

Catlin scored at 4:32 of the second on an unassisted goal. Then Botterill scored the first of her three goals, with help from Shewchuk and junior defenseman Julie Rando.

Botterill scored again two minutes into the final frame. Shewchuk scored on the power play at 10:41 of the third, and Botterill completed the hat trick six minutes later.

The Crimson outshot the Tigers, 28-19. Princeton Coach Jeff Kampersal pulled goaltender Sarah Ahlquist after Botterill's second goal, but the Tigers could not solve Harvard senior netminder Crystal Springer on the other end of the ice. Springer recorded 39 saves on the weekend.

Harvard will now prepare for St. Lawrence, which beat the Crimson in New York in November. But Botterill and Shewchuk did not play in that game, and Harvard is hoping its team chemistry has improved over the course of the season.

"For one thing, our forechecking is getting better," Catlin said. "We're becoming a more cohesive unit. Things are finally starting to come together for us."