W. Hockey Earns NCAA Berth After Advancing to ECAC Final

HANOVER, N.H.--The No. 3 Harvard women's hockey team is going back to Minneapolis.

With a 7-1 victory over No. 4 St. Lawrence in the ECAC semifinals on Saturday, the Crimson all but officially assured itself one of the four berths in the 2001 Frozen Four at the University of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena.

Yesterday, Dartmouth defeated Harvard 3-1 to deny the Crimson its second ECAC title in three years in front of a league record crowd of 2,592.

At 8 p.m. last night, the official NCAA pairings were announced online. No. 1 Dartmouth (26-3-1) will play No. 4 St. Lawrence (23-7-3) at 4 p.m. on Friday, while Harvard (23-9-0) will play No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth (26-5-4) later the same evening. The consolation and championship games will be played on Sunday.

The 2001 Frozen Four is the first-ever NCAA-sponsored women's ice hockey tournament. USA Hockey had been sponsoring the national collegiate tournament since 1998, including the 1999 tournament at Mariucci which Harvard won.

Harvard's blowout of St. Lawrence allowed the Crimson to avoid last year's disasterous ending when the team was denied a national tournament berth following an ECAC semifinal loss to Dartmouth

"I'm just very glad we took care of business ourselves, and we didn't leave it up to anyone else," said Harvard Coach Katey Stone.

As expected, both junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill and senior Tammy Shewchuk set milestones this weekend. Botterill's second-period goal against Dartmouth gave her 79 consecutive games with a point--a new collegiate hockey record. Shewchuk scored her 300th career point in the third period against St. Lawrence.

Dartmouth 3, Harvard 1

In yesterday's ECAC championship, Dartmouth went up 2-0 on a pair of first-period goals--both off deflections from the point. The physical Dartmouth defense and the superb goaltending from sophomore Amy Ferguson prevented any Harvard comeback.

"We put a tremendous amount of pressure on Dartmouth, Amy Ferguson was tremendous for them," Stone said.

Botterill scored a short-handed goal 13 minutes into the third period to pull Harvard within one. The play was created by co-captain Angie Francsico, who stole the puck on the forecheck and found Botterill wide open in front at point-blank range.

But Dartmouth would push its lead back to two on the same power play. For the second time on the day, co-captain and eventual tourney MVP Jennifer Wiehn deflected home a shot from the point by freshman defenseman Louise Pietrangelo. The pair had also hooked up for the first Big Green goal.

"Early on, we got caught in the holes in our defensive ends, and we didn't get out on the points as quickly as we should have," Stone said.

The second Dartmouth goal came from all-ECAC defenseman Corene Bredin, who found the net from the right point as forward Sarah Clark screened freshman Crimson goaltender Jessica Ruddock in front.

"[Harvard] seems to sag in a little bit, and our points were open," said Dartmouth Coach Judy Parish Oberting. "I think we're pretty dangerous in the corner, and they have to compensate for that. And when there's traffic in front you can't stop what you can't see. That's worked for us all year."

Harvard's best scoring chances on the night came midway through the third period when Dartmouth gave Harvard a two-man advantage. The first penalty was a too many men on the ice violation. The second came when Ferguson body-slammed Francisco onto the ice.

"I was hoping [Ferguson] would bobble it a little bit," Francisco said. "But the next thing I know, her glove was in my face and I was on the ice."

Such tactics did not help Ferguson earn any votes for the goaltending spot on the ECAC All-Tournament Team. The honor was ultimately given to Brown's Pam Dreyer.

On the two-man advantage, the Crimson managed some of its highest-quality scoring chances of the day, but to no avail against Ferguson.

"She plays out, and she took away the corners," said Oberting of Ferguson. "I think she does have [Harvard's] number a little bit."

Ferguson kept both Botterill and Shewchuk from tallying on breakways in the first period.

"That top line, to stop them, is just so gratifying," Ferguson said. "I want to shut them down just because."

Botterill's breakaway came from the right faceoff circle, while Shewchuk had all the time in the world from inside the blueline, but her shot deflected high off the crossbar.

"It's one of those things, the bounces weren't there," Shewchuk said. "But it's something we know always comes back to us."

"I think we got a lot of good bounces, but it came frrom a lot of hard work," Oberting said. "[My players] did a lot of little things to get themselves the bounces."

Although Harvard has missed out on an ECAC tourney title, its season is far from over. If Harvard and Dartmouth both win their NCAA semifinals, then the Crimson will get a final shot at the Big Green.

Last year, Minnesota, like Harvard this year, earned the No. 3 seed after losing its confernce final. In the national tournament, Minnesota avenged its loss in the conference final and went on to win the national title.

"We're very fired up about next week because we're going to get another chance to play Dartmouth," Stone said. "Yesterday's loss is not the end of the world. It's just one game."

Harvard 7, St. Lawrence 1

St. Lawrence may have split the regular season series with the Crimson, but facing Harvard in the playoffs has been a different story.

The Crimson eliminated the Saints from the ECAC tournament for the second straight season on Saturday by a 7-1 margin. Last season, Harvard pounded the Saints 7-3 in the quarterfinals.

The close battle predicted by the teams' preseason meetings never materialized, as Harvard quickly jumped to a 4-0 lead midway through the second period and never looked back. Harvard added three more goals in the third period to deal ECAC Rookie of the Year goaltender Rachel Barrie her worst outing of the season.

"Maybe I convinced them," Stone said. "[I told them] you can win a close game against St. Lawrence or you can blow them out, because you certainly have the ability to blow them out. If we play our game, we have that ability every day."

In spite of the 7-1 loss, the Saints nevertheless made the NCAA Tournament. Margin of defeat is generally not taken into account in tournament selection procedures.

Anticipating the spectacular play of Barrie--who had already limited the Crimson offense to four goals in two meetings this season--Harvard decisively took control of the game in the first period.

At 10:16 of the first frame, sophomore defenseman Pam Van Reesema shot the puck from the top of the right circle and Barrie made the save. The rebound bounced out in front and right onto the stick of a wide-open Botterill, who quickly fired the puck under Barrie's right pad to give Harvard the 1-0 lead.

"The rest of my teammates were doing a great job of battling and getting the shot off, so the rebound was just sitting there and I tried to bury it," Botterill said.

After the goal, the Saints' situation only worsened when Francisco aggressively checked St. Lawrence senior winger Carolyn Trudeau, the Saints' third leading scorer and career goals leader, into the left-side boards. Trudeau had to leave the game with an ankle injury and did not return.

With two minutes left in the first period, Shewchuk weaved in between a pair of Saint defenders and took an open shot on Barrie. When the rebound returned to the front of the crease, Ingram retrieved it and fired the puck inside the right post to up the Crimson lead to 2-0.

With the Saints reeling from Harvard's quick strikes, the Crimson struck again 17 seconds later.

Francisco took the puck at center ice and flew down the left side with senior winger Kiirsten Suurkask on an odd-man rush. Drawing Barrie towards her, Francisco then slid the puck across the crease to Suurkask, who shot it over the sliding Barrie's right pad to increase the lead to 3-0.

"We made a lot of mistakes defensively," said St. Lawrence Coach Paul Flanagan. "You can't give up odd-man rushes to a team like that."

Ruddock kept the Saints off the scoreboard throughout the opening flury of the first five minutes in which St. Lawrence outshot Harvard, 7-0. She helped the Crimson control the tempo of the game and denied any attempt at a comeback. Ruddock finished with 35 saves, while Barrie recorded 42 at the other end.

"Jess Ruddock played incredibly at the start of the game," Botterill said. "We weren't playing so well defensively and she was making some huge saves."

Freshman winger Mina Pell tallied Harvard's fourth score at 4:16 of the second period off a rebound manufactured by the Crimson's second line, and sophomore winger Amanda Sargeant netted the Saints' only goal of the game, a power play goal at 9:27 of the second frame.

The third period was dominated by the Crimson, beginning with Shewchuk's goal at 8:13.

Shewchuk skated in on Barrie from the left side, setting up between the circles and blasting a slapshot that powerfully ricocheted off Barrie's pad and into the net to increase the lead to 5-1.

"I just came down the ice and had Jen streaking down the wing and defense didn't know what to do as far as who to take," Shewchuk said. "[All-ECAC defenseman Isabelle Chartrand] is a big girl--she plays with me on Team Canada so she knows what she's doing--but I think she screened the goalie a little bit. I just wanted to shoot the puck low and hopefully get it through her pads, and I did."

Francisco added a goal at 11:27 with the Crimson on the power play, one-timing the puck off a pass from Botterill past Barrie's pads to make the score 6-1. It was the first and only power play opportunity of the game for Harvard.

Botterill then scored the Crimson's final goal of the day, setting up in front of the net and batting the puck out of mid-air over Barrie's shoulder to account for the final score of 7-1.