Huskies Blank Icewomen, 2-0

If the program of last night's women's hockey game against Northeastern had listed heights and weights of the skaters, the Huskies would have outsized the Crimson by an average of three to four inches and 15 to 20 pounds. If the program also had included photographs of the squads, judging by how they played, the Huskies would have looked mean.

Northeastern, utilizing its overall size and strength advantage, controlled the puck for most of the contest enroute to a 2-0 victory over Harvard last night at Bright Center. The loss drops the Crimson record to 4-8 for the season.

When freshman senasation Carol Sullivan tapped in a short-handed goal after a Judy Copperman wrist shot with 1:39 gone in the third period to give Northeastern a 2-0 lead, the Huskies secured the triumph.

For most of the evening. Northeastern penetrated the Crimson zone, spraying relentless booming slapshots at the Harvard defense and netminder Cheryl Tate, who despite nursing a minor knee injury which kept her from skating at Wednesday's practice, steered aside 32 Huskie drives.

"Tate played an excellent game. She really kept the score down," coach Rita Harder said after the game. Tate's acrobatics in the crease throughout the contest repeatedly denied blasts from the point and any followup rebounds. Midway through the second stanza, Northeastern actually committed two needless penalties in frustration over its inability to tally.

Credit is also due to the Crimson defensive corps who held up under pressure, sliding in front of Huskie slapshots and covering well in front of the net. With aggressive Northeastern forwards constantly harrassing the stickhandler, Harvard had trouble starting a clean rush to center and resorted to receiverless clearing passes, particularly in the second and third periods.

Competition

End-to-end action highlighted the first stanza, Harvard's best, with neither team able to put the puck in the net. Yardling Sue Newell, filling in for leading scorer Diane Hurley, provided the only real test for Huskie netminder Diane Derboghosian.

After Sara Fischer drew the defenseman out with a nice deke, the right winger took Fischer's feed and rifled a wrist shot which Derboghosian managed to knock down and clear in the ensuing scramble in front.

The Crimson's six first period shots-on-goal were the most the squad could muster, settling for a meager five in the rest of the game. Northeastern dominated the middle stanze but Tate's sprawling body and quick glove, the score deadlocked at zero.

With five minutes left Huskie Lee Ann Terhunes proved that there wasn't some sort of puck-repellent force field in the Crimson goal, beating Tate to the high stick side on a screened blast from the blueline.

THE NOTEBOOK: The icewomen seek their third consecutive Ivy League victory against the Yale Bulldogs, who look to avenge last week's 3-2 loss to the Crimson in New Haven, Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Bright Center. Hurley, who injured her knee in Tuesday's practice, will also miss Saturday's game.