W. Hockey Sweeps Final Regular-Season Weekend

DURHAM, N.H.--The No. 4 Harvard women's hockey team posted two comfortable wins this weekend to close out the regular season.

On Saturday, junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill scored twice and added two assists as the Crimson overwhelmed Maine, 8-2, then followed up with a 4-0 shutout at New Hampshire.

Harvard (21-8-0, 20-4-0 ECAC) finished a point behind No. 1 Dartmouth (23-3-1, 20-3-1) in the league's final standings. The ECAC's top eight teams qualify for the league quarterfinals this weekend. The semifinals and championship will be at Dartmouth the following weekend. A solid ECAC tournament showing will be necessary for Harvard to make the NCAA tournament.

The Crimson will open the ECAC tournament against No. 10 Providence (18-13-3, 10-11-3) at Bright on Saturday. Harvard defeated the Friars 7-4 and 3-2 in their previous two meetings, the last of which was marred by Providence's attempts to deliberately injure Harvard's top players.

"Their strategy makes a difference," Harvard Coach Katey Stone said. "They come out and try to headhunt a little bit, and that works for them."

Harvard will look to make amends for its previous subpar outings against the Friars this season.

"I haven't been pleased with either of those two games," Stone said. "That's why I'm psyched to play them. I want another chance to play our best hockey. It's time we start to really play and make a statement."

Harvard 4, New Hampshire 0

After 17 minutes of scoreless hockey, sophomore winger Tracy Catlin finally put Harvard ahead with a tricky shot from behind that net that New Hampshire keeper Jen Huggon could not handle. As Catlin's shot hit Huggon's pads, Huggon fell back and knocked the puck into her own net.

The Crimson's top line did not connect until late in the second. Senior winger Tammy Shewchuk set up sophomore linemate Kalen Ingram deep in Wildcat territory with an open path to the net. Huggon played Ingram to shoot, but instead Ingram slipped the puck perfectly across the crease to Botterill on the opposite doorstep for Harvard's second goal--Botterill's nation-best 38th of the season.

"We started out a little slow, but as the game progressed, we got ourselves into a flow and became much more attacking," Stone said.

New Hampshire top center Michelle Thorton shadowed Botterill whenever the two were on the ice, but failed--as every team has failed since Botterill came to Harvard--to keep her out of the box score.

"[Shadowing] is an interesting philosophy, and it happens quite a bit with Jennifer," Stone said. "I understand why they do it, but it's tough when you sacrifice your best player for that. Michelle played well and got her chances, but Jen's tough to hang with."

The first line struck again in the final minute of the second period to put the game out of reach. As Huggon sprawled out to stop an Ingram shot from the right faceoff circle, Shewchuk gathered up the rebound lifted it into the net.

At the start of the third period, Harvard was penalized for a late return to the ice after the second intermission.

"It's clearly my fault," Stone said. "We were going over something we wanted to do on the power play, and it actually worked in the third period, so it's okay. Fortunately we feel real good about our penalty kill. But we have to be careful."

Harvard controlled play in the third, leaving little opportunity for a Wildcat comeback. Huggon made a few tough saves to keep the Crimson lead at three, but Shewchuk deflected home senior defender Tara Dunn's shot from the point in the closing moments of the third to make the score 4-0.

With co-captain Angie Francisco back on the second line for the first time in weeks, Dunn was able to return to the blue line.

"[Having] the two of them back at those situations makes us feel much better about our future right now," Stone said.

Freshman goaltender Jessica Ruddock earned her third career shutout. She was rarely tested as the Crimson defense allowed a scarce number of scoring opportunities.

Harvard 8, Maine 2

The Black Bears needed a win against Harvard to stay alive in the ECAC playoff race, but the Crimson would not oblige.

Maine proved itself capable of playing with the ECAC's best teams with a victory over St. Lawrence in February and a win over Brown yesterday, but the Black Bears have had no luck stopping the Crimson's offense this season.

"We have too much firepower," Stone said. "We're in much better shape than they are. They couldn't stay with us, despite trying to clutch and grab and bang us a little bit. I don't know why other teams have a harder time with Maine, but right now we have our way with them and I hope it lasts."

Harvard went up 3-0 in the first period and never looked back. Botterill scored the first goal at the 8:27 mark, driving the puck past sprawling Maine goaltender Amanda Cronin as Crimson players crowded the net.

The Crimson made it 2-0 just 33 seconds later, as third-line freshman Lauren McAuliffe beat Cronin five-hole. Then five minutes later on the power play, Botterill and Ingram worked the puck around to Shewchuk for Harvard's final goal of the period.

After a lackluster second period in which Maine freshman Rebecca Ouellet reduced the Crimson's lead to 3-1, Harvard put the game away in the third. Immediately following a Maine penalty kill, Shewchuk put her own rebound past Cronin to up the lead to 4-1.

Senior winger Kiirsten Suurkask scored a minute later with a top-shelf wrister. Then on her next shift, she assisted on Harvard's sixth goal, which was credited to Catlin.

Botterill converted a rebound off an Ingram shot for her second goal of the afternoon. Soon after freshman Karen Droog--Maine's leading scorer--lit the lamp, sophomore defender Pam Van Reesema found the net for the game's final goal.

Harvard outshot Maine 49-19, a step down from the Crimson's 67-19 shooting advantage in the teams' previous meeting.