Icewomen Tackle Tigers, 5-4

Harvard women's hockey Coach John Dooley does not remember the last time one of his teams triumphed at Princeton.

After the Tigers defeated then second-place Dartmouth, 3-1, Friday night to improve their record to 4-0-1, Saturday's game with the Crimson became a battle of two undefeated teams fighting for first place in the Ivy League.

Led by two-goal performances by Julie Sasner and Char Joshin, Harvard defeated Princeton, 5-4, to up its Ivy record to 7-0 (11-2 overall) and maintain its hold on first place in the Ancient Eight standings with two-game lead.

What made the victory even more satisfying, according to Dooley, was that although the team had not been able to practice much this week--because of the exam break and the Beanpot Tournament--the players responded with a solid effort.

Sasner, who had two goals and three assists in the Crimson's 10-0 trouncing of B.U. in last week's opening game of the Beanpot Tournament, scored her 50th career goal in the early minutes of the first period to give Harvard a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers, however, responded with two goals--one by last week's Ivy League Player of the Week Sue Finney--to take the lead. Freshman sensation Joslin scored her third consecutive unassisted goal with three minutes left to tie the game at 2-2.

The Crimson jumped to a 5-2 lead last in the second period and early in the third with goals by Joslin (her fourth consecutive unassisted tally), Julia Trottman and Sasner.

Even though Princeton scored a pair of late goals in the final period, the Crimson defense was able to stem off the Tiger comeback.

"You don't win a game without a total team effort," Dooley said, "and everyone contributed. They [the Tigers] were ready, and had every psychological edge."

Dooley noted that the defensive play of both Amy Hartung and Jane Kalinski "picked up the slack" in the absence of starter Chritine Burns.

Although the Crimson did improve its chance of capturing the Ivy League title, the team has its sights on an even more difficult task--beating hockey power Northeastern in the Beanpot finals tomorrow.

"We're coming in with a very positive attitude," Dooley said, "But we will need a tremendous amount of discipline. The lack of practice will be a major disadvantage."

Sophomore Brita Lind summed up the squad's feelings about this season's goals: "We want to put up some banners," she said, "just like the men's team."