Harvard Hosts Pre-Exam Conference Clash

A wreath is frequently associated with the ideal of athletic victory in Greek art of the late Classical period.

Several members of the Harvard women’s hockey team learned as much this semester as they prepare for a final exam tomorrow morning, including one of its co-captains and its leading goal-scorer.

But before they sit down with their pencils and blue books, they’ll have to square off on the blue lines, when No. 4 Dartmouth (14-3-1, 12-1-0 ECAC) visits the No. 5 Crimson (14-3-1, 11-2-0) at Bright Hockey Center tonight at 7 p.m.

“Dartmouth doesn’t care if we have exams,” said Harvard head coach Katey Stone earlier in the week. “Everyone knows that they are expected to get their work done early and to be prepared to play [tonight].”

“We have quite a few players with exams on Saturday,” senior center Julie Chu said. “But you have a whole week to prepare, and you need to use that. It’s pretty easy to say, “Oh, I have a lot of time,” and to blow it off. Everyone on the team knows that they have to get their work done early.”

There’s work to be done on the ice as well, with first place on the line in this return leg of the home-and-home series between the two travel partners and bitter rivals.

The Big Green seized a two-point edge in the tables when it dispatched the Crimson, 4-1, on Dec. 15 in Hanover. In that game, Dartmouth grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the opening period and never looked back.

“We will hopefully be getting started faster than we did last time we played them,” Stone said.

Harvard can slide back into a first-place tie with a win tonight.

The December meeting also featured an impressive exhibition of the two teams’ young netminders. Harvard freshman Christina Kessler, who currently leads the nation in save percentage (.951), incurred the first loss of her collegiate career as Big Green sophomore Carli Clemis turned aside 38 shots to get the better of their showdown.

Kessler figures to get the start and a chance at redemption tonight, after sophomore Brittany Martin played in the squad’s last outing on Saturday. Stone has been enjoying the luxury of depth, having the two top-notch goalies take turns between the pipes for the past two months. Martin ranks second nationally with a 1.29 goals against average; Kessler is just hundredths of a score behind at 1.32.

Whoever gets the nod will be charged with keeping the fourth-ranked Dartmouth offense, which enters the weekend averaging 4.11 goals per appearance, off the scoreboard. Senior forward Gillian Apps leads the country in that category with 1.19 goals per game.

And the Big Green is no slouch on the defensive end, either. That unit also ranks fourth, allowing just 1.50 goals per contest.

Harvard, however, is second in both fields, tallying 4.50 goals per game and permitting just 1.28. And sophomore Jenny Brine can match Apps in scoring acumen. Brine leads the nation with 20 goals, 15 power-play strikes, and six game-winners.

What has traditionally been one of the biggest rivalry games in all of women’s college hockey has been restored to national prominence in 2007 as the Crimson and Dartmouth have reclaimed spots atop the conference standings as well as in the top five of the polls after down performances last season.

The two squads’ disappointing, near-.500 showings in 2005-06—Harvard wound up at 18-13-4, the Big Green finished at 12-13-4—coincided with the absence of many of their top players due to national team commitments.

The only roster to welcome back as many Olympians as the Crimson’s–which re-incorporated Chu, junior Caitlin Cahow, and sophomore Sarah Vaillancourt into the mix this fall–was Dartmouth’s, which returned a trio of medalists and added a fourth in freshman sensation Sarah Parsons (8-17-25) to boot.

Stone attempted to downplay the importance of the clash.

“It’s one big game in a schedule riddled with big games,” she said.

But the prospect of carrying winning momentum into the upcoming 13-day exam layoff and the fervor usually inspired by the sight of Harvard’s nemesis across the rink might say otherwise.

After Dartmouth, however, comes the real challenge: tomorrow’s 9 a.m. test. Who exactly was Abdolonymos again?

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.