Harvard Falls to Northeastern, 8-2 In Women's Beanpot Opener

A first glance at the score reveals no big surprises.

Northeastern, the heavy favorite, coasts to an 8-2 victory over Harvard in last night's opening round of the Seventh Annual Women's Beanpot at Bright Center.

But anyone who watched last night's contest knows that the Cantabs have no reason to feel like losers.

"The big word on this game is class," said Crimson goalie Tracy Kimmel. "We went out there in the third period to show them some class and we did."

Trailing the Huskies, 6-0, after two periods, the icewomen rallied back with two goals just when it would have been easiest to stay in the locker room and call it a night.

The power play worked, the defense shone, and Kimmel registered 38 saves against one of the most dangerous offenses in women's ice hockey.

A loss, yes; a crushing blow to Beanpot dreams, certainly; but a poor effort, definitely not.

"Our kids demonstrated super courage, super class," said Harvard Coach John Dooley. "It would have been easy to fold under the pressure, but we kept coming back."

Ranked among the top five teams in the nation, the Huskies are large, physical, and recruited--and not a squad to let up on the pressure at any time.

"I'm not going to pull in the reins," warned Northeastern Coach Don MacLeod before the game. "I think we should be the [Beanpot] favorites each year now because of recruitments--we're pulling away from the other three."

The Huskies certainly pulled away from the Crimson early in the contest last night.

Just two and a half minutes into the action, Northeastern's sensational freshman center, Louise Duguay, brought the puck down ice. The Canadian slipped it to her wing, Jill Toney, who promptly deposited it in the unguarded right side of the net.

Then, at 4:39, Duguay paid Kimmel another visit, driving in a low shot to make it 2-0.

Harvard, meanwhile, had trouble merely getting into shooting range. On the occasions when the Cantabs moved past center ice, the passing wasn't sharp enough to set up shots before the Husky defense swept the puck away.

To make matters worse, forwards Lisa Sylvia and Tina Cardinale each notched tallies late in the period to give Northeastern a four-goal edge and 16-2 shot margin at the end of one.

"I think we were all a little nervous at the beginning," noted Crimson Tri-Captain Dinny Starr. The Cantabs not only were skating in front of the largest home crowd of the year (164), but also were hoping to avenge an early-season 8-1 loss to the Huskies.

The second stanza opened just where the last had left off, with the Northeastern offense on a rampage. Duguay and Michelle Surette hit a pair of rebound goals past Kimmel--things just weren't clicking for Harvard.

Even the Crimson's first power play opportunity fell through when Kelly Landry was charged with the first of two tripping penalties, causing her to beat her stick against her helmet in exasperation.

In an attempt to revitalize the team, the fans started to come alive--the pressbox started an impromptu "wave", a cymbal-toting member of the Harvard band showed up, and one rooter pulled out placards saying "Fight Fiercely Harvard."

And that's exactly what the icewomen proceeded to do.

Trailing by six, the Crimson skated onto the ice at the start of the final period with a mission--to score.

Northeastern found itself with two players in the sin bin early on, and before long Harvard found itself with two goals in the bag.

First blueliner Julie Sasner, and then center Liz Ward, knocked in power play goals to bring the score to 6-2.

"For years we've never had the power play--today we got two nice goals on it," said Dooley. "The kids never quit."

Unfortunately for Harvard, neither did Northeastern.

Co-Captain Toney lined two shots past Kimmel, the second a shorthanded goal on a breakaway, to regain the six-goal margin.

"The most annoying thing about Northeastern is that they can drive a goalie wild," said Kimmel. "They don't just shoot on every wild instinct--they wait, they control, and they set it up."

The 8-2 final reflects that Husky expertise, but it can't reflect the Crimson spunk.

"We went out there with a lot of pride," Starr said.

They left with that pride intact. THE NOTEBOOK: In the other first round contest, played at 8:30, Boston College defeated Boston University, 4-0. The goals were B.C.'s first in two years at the Beanpot, as the Eagles were shut out in both rounds of the tournament last year. Northeastern, 8-2 at Bright Center Harvard  0  0  2  2 Northeastern  4  2  2  8

First period--1, N, Jill Toney (Louise Duguay) 2:30. 2, N, Duguay (Kerrie Cronin) 4:39. 3, N, Pisa (Duguay, Toney) 10:53. 4, N, Tina Cardinale (Cronin, Nina Koyama) 15:51. Penalties--Christine Burns, H (holding) 3:08.

Second period--5, N, Duguay (Beth Murphy, Koyama) 3:39. 6, N, Michelle Surette (Sylvia, Murphy) 7:54. Penalties--Kelly Landry, H (tripping) 2:06; Sylvia, N (hooking) 10:18; Landry, H (tripping) 10:54, Jane Kalinski, H (tripping) 15:31.

Third period 7, H, Julie Sasner (Dinny Starr) 2:54. 8, H, Liz Ward (Landry) 3:11. 9, N, Toney (Tracy Hill, Sylvia) 10:58. 10, N, Toney (unassisted) 13:06. Penalties--Murphy, N (roughing) 0:30; Cardinale, N (hooking) 1:42; Starr, H (tripping) 4:41; Burns, H (holding) 7:18; Cardinale, N (hooking) 12:54.

Saves--H, Tracy Kimmel 38; N, Marie Devine 10.

First period--1, N, Jill Toney (Louise Duguay) 2:30. 2, N, Duguay (Kerrie Cronin) 4:39. 3, N, Pisa (Duguay, Toney) 10:53. 4, N, Tina Cardinale (Cronin, Nina Koyama) 15:51. Penalties--Christine Burns, H (holding) 3:08.

Second period--5, N, Duguay (Beth Murphy, Koyama) 3:39. 6, N, Michelle Surette (Sylvia, Murphy) 7:54. Penalties--Kelly Landry, H (tripping) 2:06; Sylvia, N (hooking) 10:18; Landry, H (tripping) 10:54, Jane Kalinski, H (tripping) 15:31.

Third period 7, H, Julie Sasner (Dinny Starr) 2:54. 8, H, Liz Ward (Landry) 3:11. 9, N, Toney (Tracy Hill, Sylvia) 10:58. 10, N, Toney (unassisted) 13:06. Penalties--Murphy, N (roughing) 0:30; Cardinale, N (hooking) 1:42; Starr, H (tripping) 4:41; Burns, H (holding) 7:18; Cardinale, N (hooking) 12:54.

Saves--H, Tracy Kimmel 38; N, Marie Devine 10.