W. Hockey Battles No. 1 Brown

After a thrilling overtime victory Tuesday against No. 8 Northeastern to capture its second consecutive Beanpot title, the No. 3 Harvard women's hockey team has gained momentum leading into its battle against No. 1 Brown Saturday in Providence.

"It symbolizes one of the first major championships we have to win," junior winger Tammy Shewchuk said. "It's definitely something to build on heading into Saturday."

The Crimson (15-4-3, 12-4-3 ECAC)has hit its stride at the right time. Having lost twice in the past two weekends to Providence and Dartmouth, the victory has helped lift the team's spirits, according to freshman winger Kalen Ingram.

"We're definitely on a bit of a high right now," Ingram said. "We've been kind of down the past two weekends, but hopefully we can put that behind us and keep this feeling going for the rest of the season and into the heart of the playoffs."

Sophomore forward Jen Botterill, who scored the overtime goal to capture the Beanpot title, also recognized the significance of the victory.

"For us to come through with a win on Tuesday was kind of a turning point for us," Botterill said.

However, Brown has also built up considerable momentum, coming off a convincing 6-1 defeat of Dartmouth last Saturday, easily dominating the same team that gave Harvard its most recent loss. Brown followed the Dartmouth game with an 11-0 pummeling of Boston College Sunday.

Harvard has already proven that it can compete on the same level with Brown. In the teams' previous meeting in December, Harvard took a 4-1 lead into the third period, but could not hold on at the end as the Bears came back with three goals in the final ten minutes to tie the game. Shewchuk does not expect to see another collapse from Harvard in Saturday's game.

"I think we've gotten a lot better at putting together three solid periods," Shewchuk said.

Botterill said the team has grown from the time it last faced Brown.

"I think we learned from it, we are going to approach the game with confidence and play as hard as we can," Botterill said.

Brown possesses a strong defense anchored by senior goaltender Ali Brewer and junior defenseman Tara Mounsey, who, along with Harvard's sophomore forward Jen Botterill and sophomore defenseman Angela Ruggiero, are among the top ten candidates for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is given to the most outstanding player in women's intercollegiate hockey.

Brewer, Mounsey and Ruggiero were also finalists for the award last year, with Brewer actually placing among the top three finalists.

Shewchuk stressed the importance of getting to Brewer early.

"We have to make all of our chances count, especially against Brewer," Shewchuk said. "It's up to us to get at her quickly and pummel her with shots. That's our recipe for success against Brown, and really against any team."

After its loss to Dartmouth, Harvard no longer controls its fate in the Ivy League and has to count on Brown to lose. However, a victory at Brown would still have major implications for Harvard with only five games remaining on the Crimson's schedule before the playoffs.

"It's really huge for us to win this weekend and know that we can beat Brown going into the playoffs," Shewchuk said. "We don't want to think about rank or anything, just get a win Saturday and keep taking it one game at a time."