Crimson Icewomen Top Wesleyan, 4-3

Dead even. That's the record the women's hockey team (now 6-6-1, 2-1-1 in the Ivies) will take to the Ivy League Championships this weekend after edging Wesleyan, 4-3, at Brown and Nichols Arena on Saturday for the squad's sixth win in its last eight contests.

The Crimson entered the final period with a 4-2 lead, but the contest tightened considerably when a Wesleyan wristshot beat Harvard netminder Nelia Worsely for a power-play goal with 2:25 left.

A tripping call to freshman defenseman Julie Starr with 1:20 to go put the Crimson in further danger; but Wesleyan threats couldn't produce a score, and Harvard skated off with a slim victory.

With scoring leader Tania Huber sidelined with a minor neck injury, Harvard received a strong offensive effort from the combination of Lauren Norton and Firkins Reed up front and defenseman Alison Bell. Norton finished with two goals and two assists, Reed with two assists and a goal, and Bell with three assists.

"Lauren was by far the best player on the ice," Joe Bertagna, Crimson coach, said yesterday.

"She did a little bit of everything--on offense and on defense. It was her best game of the year," he added.

Norton didn't start the scoring herself, but she set up Sara Fischer in the slot during a line change to put the Crimson in front at 2:14 of the opening period.

'Furry' Fever

A little more than five minutes later, Norton took a rink-wide pass from "Furry" Reed and put home what Fischer later described as a "whistling wristshot."

After Wesleyan cut Harvard's margin to one on a screened shot from the point, Norton closed out period one with a re-run of her earlier tally. Captain Bell supplied the assist this time, as she sent a pass to Norton along the right boards before the sophomore winger deposited the puck into net's far corner to give Harvard a 3-1 lead.

Some sloppy stickwork in front of the Harvard goal allowed Wesleyan to close to 3-2 midway through the second period, but Reed gave the Crimson some breathing room when she banged in a Norton centering pass 11 minutes into the stanza.

Norton's tally--her seventh of the season--proved to be the winner, as Harvard's customary third-period letdown did not prove fatal. The firepower of Norton wasn't all Harvard skaters had going for them on Saturday, though.

"We had Tania cheering for us from the stands," Reed noted.

LINE CHANGES: Huber will be back into action in time for Ivy Tournament at Brown this weekend...Bell said she thought the team might have been looking beyond Wesleyan a bit too much: "We didn't play as well as we should have... Wesleyan brought us down to their level."