Icewomen Skate By Red, RIT

The Harvard women's hockey team's rollercoaster of a season hit a high point this weekend with a roadtrip sweep of Ivy League rival Cornell and the Rochecter Institute of Technology.

Saturday, shaking off the first-period effects of a long bus ride and a night in a hotel, the Crimson (now 9-8-1 overall, 3-5-1 Ivy) exploded for four second-stanza goals against the Big Red to secure a 5-1 win in Ithaca, N.Y.

The victory not only avenged a strong Harvard effort against Cornell earlier in the season that ended in a 3-3 tie after a last minute Big Red score, but was also a crucial step in the Crimson's scramble for the fourth--and final--spot in the upcoming Ivy Tournament.

Harvard currently shares that fourth-place position with Dartmouth, which followed the Crimson into Ithaca Sunday night and also defeated Cornell.

Both Harvard and Dartmouth control their own destinies, as the single game remaining on their Ivy schedules happens to be a head to head match-up at Bright Hockey Center on February 26.

In the first period Saturday, Harvard's Lisa Bailliere was the only player to score a goal, but the second stanza saw a Crimson deluge that included tallies by Amy Hartung, Karen Carney, Brita Lind, and--in a length-of-the-ice rush--Christine Burns.

Harvard netminder Jennifer White recorded her first career assist on the Burns score, but her greatest contribution to the team effort came on the defensive side. She recorded 33 saves on the evening, allowing only a single Cornell goal in a third period so one-sided that Harvard failed to mount a single shot on goal.

"Let's just say we played a strong defensive period," said Harvard Assistant Coach Bill MacDonald.

After traveling to Rochester, N.Y. Sunday, the Crimson continued its balanced attack with a 3-1 victory over RIT. Each of the eight goals scored by Harvard on the weekend was netted by a different icewoman.

"For awhile, only our first line was scoring," Crimson Co-Captain Genie Simmons said. "Now we're getting goals from our defensemen and our second line."

Simmons has been a significant force in fostering the new potency of the Harvard second line. She contributed a pair of assists in each of the weekend victories.

And it was one of her assists that got Harvard on the board fist against RIT. Jane Kalinsky took a Simmons pass at the point and blasted the puck through heavy traffic in front of the net.

With the score tied at one in the third period, hard work by the Crimson second line again paid off when Christine Dooley slammed the puck home with five minutes gone in the stanza.

With less than three minutes remaining, Harvard converted a blocked shot in its own end into a breakaway score by Johanna Neilson to put the wraps on both the contest and an outstanding weekend.

Harvard will finish its regular season with four home contests. The icewomen host Connecticut Thursday, Bowdoin and Colby this weekend, and Dartmouth on the 26th.