Women's Hockey Harpoons Bulldogs at the Yale Whale

Who says that Harvard hockey is cursed at the Yale Whale?

Certainly not the Harvard women's hockey team, who defeated Yale, 2-1, this past Saturday down in New Haven, Conn.

The win established the Crimson as one of the elite four teams--along with Brown, Princeton and Dartmouth--who are tied for first place in the Ivy League standings with six points apiece. Harvard's Ivy record is 3-4, while the team is 7-5-1 overall (5-2-1 ECAC).

"We played well after a really tough loss to Cornell the weekend before in overtime," said sophomore A.J. Mleczko, who is tied for the Ivy League scoring lead with 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists). "We beat Yale 7-0 earlier in the season so the recent 2-1 victory reflects a Yale improvement.

Junior forward Stacey Kellogg earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors, as she set up co-captain Winkie Mleczko for the Crimson's first goal 4:30 into the second period and then scored the eventual game-winner seven minutes later to give the visiting Crimson a 2-0 lead.

Freshman Jen Bowdoin was solid in goal, making her first Ivy League start. Bowdoin stopped 31 Bulldog blasts, including 15 in a hectic third period to preserve the win. Yale cut the lead in half 8:31 into the final stanza, but Bowdoin saw to it that Harvard would escape scenic New Haven with the victory.

Harvard pelted Yale goalie Laurie Belliveau with 46 shots on net, and Belliveau's 44 stops earned her Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this season.

"We had a lot more shots in our first game but had much more trouble offensively in the second," A.J. Mleczko said. "We played the first two periods [Saturday] much better than the third when we were up 2-0 and let up a little. But we hung in there."

Both A.J. Mleczko and sophomore Christa Calagione said that it was difficult to play three games during reading period, all of which were played away.

The road doesn't get any easier for the Crimson, literally. February is a notably busy month for Harvard with 10 games scheduled, half of which are away. The Crimson's next match is at home against Cornell on the 29th, a contest which the players are looking forward to as an opportunity to take revenge for their most recent loss--a 4-3 overtime setback, as the Big Red scored the final four goals.

Harvard will host the women's Beanpot tournament on February 7 and 14, facing Boston College in the opening round.

The Crimson's toughest match-up of the season will be on February 11th against UNH, which is ranked first in the ECAC. The following game against Brown on the 19th will be televised.

"We have to take the games one at a time," Calagione said. "Right now we'll focus on Cornell." Harvard  2 Yale  1