Miscues Spell Doom for W. Hockey as Northeastern Takes Women's Beanpot

If at first you don't succeed, the old adage goes, try, try again.

The Harvard women's hockey team tried for the third time this season to defeat Northeastern yesterday in the finals of the 16th women's Beanpot tournament at Matthews Arena, but came up on the short-end of a 6-2 decision.

"They're a wonderful hockey team," head coach John Dooley said of the Northeastern Huskies, who have won 11 of the 16 Women's Beanpot tournaments.

Despite having lost to the Huskies 4-1 in a regular-season contest and 2-1 in last week's Beanpot first-round double-elimination match, the Crimson--for fleeting moments in the second period--appeared to have Northeastern on the ropes.

Down 1-0 for most of the opening stanza, the Crimson knotted the game at 7:36 of the second on a power-play goal by sophomore Stacey Kellogg, who was assisted by co-captain Joey Alissi and sophomore Holly Leitzes.

Alissi moved in from the left circle and slid a pass through the crease, where Kellogg tipped it in past Husky goalie Kimberly Flatt just 14 seconds into the Crimson power-play.

The goal shifted the momentum in Harvard's favor for the first time, and with Alissi and Kellogg continuing to create havoc in front of the Husky net-minder, the Crimson had several chances to take the lead.

The Huskies regained their composure, however, and punctured the Crimson's hopes at 11:25 of the second.

Husky forward Angela Scerra slid the puck in the net after Harvard's netminder junior Erin Villiotte lost control of it outside the crease.

The goal gave Northeastern a 2-1 lead.

Any chances the Crimson might have had to pull themselves back into the game were dashed later in the second period when Husky Rayanne Conway intercepted a cross-ice pass by Leitzes in the Harvard zone, broke in uncontested on Villiotte and fiveholed the puck for a short-handed goal at 13:13.

Content with their two-goal lead, the Huskies went to a more physical style of play and kept the Crimson off-balance the rest of the way.

"It was a lot more physical then what we're used to," Dooley said. "Although I think the refs were very inconsistent in their calls and [Northeastern] got the best of them."

"It was very physical," freshman A.J. Mleczko said, "but I grew up playing physically so it wasn't that bad for me."

The game featured some defensive miscues by the Crimson deep in their own zone which cost it four goals on the night.

"There were four blatant mistakes by us and they capitalized on them," Dooley said. "We had our chances too, but we just couldn't finish."

The Huskies' first goal came as a result of a give-away by the Crimson defense which left Northeastern's Sheely Looney in a one-on-one situation with Villiote.

Looney wristed the puck through Villiote's pads for the unassisted goal at 2:41 of the first.

For the rest of the first period the Huskies dominated the action, pinning the Crimson in its own end for minutes at a time. Only Villiotte's 11 first-period saves kept the Crimson in the game until the second period.

Villiote ended the game with 26 saves to Flatt's 22, and most of Flatt's saves came off weak Crimson shots as the Husky defense rarely allowed Harvard to set up offensive plays.

The Crimson's third loss of the season to the Huskies was not without its postives, though, as coach Dooley pointed out after the game.

"I think the physical play will help us get ready for our games against Brown and Providence this weekend," Dooley said. "Also, I'm glad my younger players got the experience of playing the highest level of collegiate women's hockey."

"The gap between the best and rest is becoming less," he added.. "Although we lost, we almost got off as many shots as they did. We're not at parity yet, but the gap is becoming less."

The players emphasized the positives of the tournament, also.

"It really was a great experience," said A. Mleczko, playing in her first Beanpot tournament. "I had no idea what to expect, and I'm excited I'll have three more chances to win it."

This year's Women's Beanpot was different than Beanpot's past in that only three teams participated.

Boston University, the fourth team in most of the Beanpots in history, dropped its varsity program two years ago, and after Brown took its place in last year's tournament and won, tournament officials decided to invite only the three area teams.

Because of this change, the tournament's first round consisted of a round-robin tournament, in which both Northeastern and Harvard beat Boston College to advance into last night's final.

The loss drops the Crimson record to 11-8-1. Harvard will next host Providence on Saturday night in Bright Hockey Center. NORTHEASTERN, 6-2 AT Mattews Arena Harvard  0  1  1  --  2 Northeastern  1  3  2  --  6

First Period

Nor--Looney 2:41.

Second Period

Har--Kellogg (Alissi, Leitzes) 7:36.

Nor--Scerra (Drews)11:25.

Nor --Conway 13:13.

Nor--Sobek 15:48.

Third Period

Har--A, Mleczko (Kellogg, Alissi) :44.

Nor--Haman (Looney) 8:17.

Nor--Haman (Looney, Sobek) 12:43.

Saves: Har--Villiotte 11-5-10-26; Nor--Flatt 8-5-9-22.