Icewomen Record Two Shutouts

As Bobby Knight has been known to say, the best offense is a strong defense.

The Harvard women's ice hockey team can attest to the verity of that observation. They notched two shutouts this weekend at Bright Hockey Center, for which they can thank a strong effort from their defense. The Crimson beat St. Lawrence (4-13 overall, 3-9 ECAC) on Saturday and Cornell (11-6-2, 4-3-1 Ivy) yesterday in a front of a vociferous crowd of more than 100 fans, by identical scores of 2-0. The two victories up the Crimson's record to 12-5-1 overall, 6-0-1 Ivy.

Harvard had to rely on its defensive play in the first two periods against Cornell, battling to a scoreless tie.

Tri-Captain and goalie Jen White stopped 25 shots during the contest, with 11 of them coming in the second period, while Cornell goalie Kathryn LoPresti made 15 saves.

"The key for us today was Jen White and our defense," Assistant Coach Julie Sasner said. "There were several two-on-one and even three-on-one situations where we would end up with the puck. And Char Joslin would get something started [offensively], which is really difficult in those sorts of situations."

"Cornell's a very strong team," Tri-Captain Jen White said. "They played with a lot of heart in the first two periods. You could tell they really wanted it. Between periods, Coach [John Dooley] didn't yell at us about the little things--he told us that we had to play with more emotion in order to win."

Dooley's speech must have gotten through loud and clear because Harvard came out firing in the third period. Tri-Captain Brita Lind and freshman Sandra Whyte, Ivy Player of the Week, capitalized on a two-on-one opportunity at 10:50 in the third to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead. Lind knocked the puck past Cornell goalie and Tri-Captain Kathryn LoPresti, before she had a chance to recover from a shot by Whyte.

"I'd say Brita's goal definitely sparked us," Tri-Captain Julia Trotman said.

Whyte kept the momentum in Harvard's favor when she snuck in another deflection at 15:54 to seal the victory.

"When Sandra gets the puck, you break for the net," Lind said. "She's so fast, you know something's going to happen."

Saturday's game against Division 3 St. Lawrence followed a similar pattern, as Harvard failed to get on the scoreboard for the first period.

The Crimson gained control of the game much more quickly this time around, as Whyte scored only 37 seconds into the second period, with assists from Lind and Trotman, and junior Martina Albright wrapped up the scoring with a goal at 15:48.

"I don't know why we're starting so slowly, but Jen kept us in the game," Lind said.