Icewomen Hope to Build on Friar Loss

Tuesday night, the Harvard women's ice hockey team almost accomplished the impossible.

This weekend, it just hopes to accomplish the achievable.

Coming off a near-upset of Providence, the Crimson travels to Cornell and Rochester Institute of Technology for back-to-back games this weekend.

Tuesday's game against the Friars--considered by many to be the best team in women's hockey--gave a large confidence boost to the Crimson (4-7) which lost by a slim 2-1 margin after leading 1-0 going into the third period.

"They know damn well that they played a great game the other night," Harvard Coach John Dooley said. "They are proud of themselves--and they should be."

Dooley points to the first period of the Providence game as an example of how well his team is playing.

"That was our best period of hockey all year, and that makes me optimistic about our chances," he said.

Nevertheless, Harvard will be tested this weekend.

Cornell has one of the Ivy League's top goalies, Chantel Toth, and she alone can keep the Big Red in a tight game.

And RIT is a physical team--playing them on the second day of back-to-back games is tough for a Crimson team without a lot of depth.

"RIT is always tough on the road. I'm just hoping that we can keep skating and not get anybody hurt," Dooley said.

But Dooley wants his team to do more than stay healthy; he wants the Crimson to win.

Playoffs Loom

"This is a big weekend for us--these are the teams we're in heavy competition with for the playoffs, and we need to win these kinds of games," he said.

That really is a key motivation for Harvard this weekend--the ECAC playoffs loom at the end of February, and for the Crimson to be selected as one of the conference's top eight teams (and qualify for the playoffs) it desperately need to start winning some games.

Makes sense, right?

But Harvard is moving in the right direction. Dooley particularly notes the unexpected good play of the Crimson's second line--the "blue line"--of sophomore Diana Clark, freshman Megan Hall, and sophomore Sarah Simmons.

Coming Together

"We expect a lot from players like [junior Co-Captain] Joey Alissi, [freshman defender] Holly Leitzes, and [sophomore netminder] Erin Villiotte. But Diana moving from defense to center? Megan just learning to play at this level? Sarah? That's why we're coming around," Dooley said.

And the overall effect is quite pleasing. "Things are starting to come together--the players are more and more on the same page. The leadership by our captains [Alissi and senior Kim Landry] have been just super. I'm extremely pleased with what's going on," he said.

"They work awfully hard out there, and their attitude all year long has been so good; eventually, they're going to reap the benefits."