W. Hockey Beats Niagara Twice Over Weekend

The Purple Eagles couldn't wait for the Crimson to leave town.

The Harvard women's hockey team defeated Niagara twice over the weekend, 5-2 on Saturday and 2-1 yesterday, at Dwyer Arena.

After starting the season with losses against No. 5 Wisconsin and No.3 Minnesota, the No.6 Crimson (2-2-0, 2-0-0 ECAC) jumped all over the No.10 Purple Eagles (5-3-0, 1-3-0 ECAC) to reach the .500 mark.

Playing without star forwards Tammy Shewchuk and Jennifer Botterill, who are playing for Team Canada in the Four Nations Cup, Harvard found equally dangerous scoring threats.

Senior forwards Tara Dunn and Kiirsten Suurkask each scored three goals over the weekend, accounting for six of the Crimson's seven goals.

Harvard 2, Niagara 1

On Sunday, it was Suurkask who was the star.

Suurkask made sure Harvard got off to a good start against Niagara by scoring a goal at 3:47 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The emphasis then shifted to the defense, with both teams going scoreless the remainder of the first period and for the duration of the second period.

With the Purple Eagles seeking the game-tying goal in the third period, Sururkask beat Niagara goalkeeper Jennifer Nascaro once again to put Harvard up 2-0.

The Purple Eagles would not flounder, and Lindsay Vine slipped one past Crimson goaltender Alison Kuusisto to cut Harvard's lead in half.

However, although Niagara had the momentum and the crowd on its side, it would gain no more scores against the Crimson defense and Harvard would win 2-1to send the Purple Eagles to its third straight loss.

Harvard 5, Niagara 2

On Saturday, the game belonged to Tara Dunn.

Dunn scored a hat trick as the Crimson crushed Niagara 5-2 to win its ECAC opener.

After playing a scoreless first period, the scoring opened at 12:14 in the second with Purple Eagle defenseman Linda Groff beating Kuusisto to give Niagara a 1-0 lead.

The lead would not stand for long as 90 seconds later, Suurkask netted the game-tying goal past Nascaro to tie the game at 1-1.

Thirty seconds later, with the Crimson on the power play, Dunn received passes from sophomore defenseman Pan Van Reesma and co-captain Angie Francisco and beat Nascaro to give Harvard the lead at 2-1.

The third period continued with Dunn's offensive outburst.

At 3:13, Dunn was assisted by Francisco to score the eventual game-winning goal and give the Crimson a 3-1 advantage.

Three minutes later, Niagara junior forward Stephanie Romaine beat Kuusisto to score the Purple Eagles' second goal and bring Niagara within one at 3-2.

However, Dunn would make sure the game did not slip away, lighting the lamp at 17:55 off assists from Francisco and sophomore defenseman Jamie Hagerman for a 4-2 lead.

Harvard was not done with its scoring. With one minute left in the game, freshman forward Lauren McAuliffe dented the scoreboard with her first goal of the season and gave the Crimson a 5-2 lead.

The stars for the Crimson were Suurkask, who now has four points in the season, and Dunn, who also has four points, three of them goals. Kuusisto also played well, recording a 1.50 goals-against-average over the weekend.

Harvard's next game will be Saturday at Dartmouth. The Big Green (4-0-0, 4-0-0 ECAC) is ranked No. 1 in the nation and looking to continue its dominance over the Crimson. Last year, Dartmouth swept Harvard in three meetings, including the ECAC semifinal.