SPORTS BRIEF: Women's Hockey draws Wisconsin in NCAA quarterfinal round

The Harvard women’s hockey team was eliminated from the ECAC Tournament on Saturday, but its hopes for a national title are still alive, as the Crimson qualified for the eight-team NCAA Tournament, revealed last night.

The tournament bracket pits Harvard against top-ranked defending champion Wisconsin. The quarterfinal showdown is set for 8 p.m. Saturday night in Madison, Wisc.

The pairing of the sixth-ranked Crmison with the Badgers, the tournament’s top seed, reflects the desire of the selection committee to avoid intra-conference matchups, as the coupling of Harvard with its logical opponent, No. 3 Dartmouth, would have been.

Both teams boast two top-10 Patty Kazmaier Award finalists—senior co-captain and sophomore Sarah Vaillancourt for the Crimson, 2006 winner Sara Bauer and Meaghan Mikkelson for Wisconsin. The Badgers are directed by Mark Johnson, who moonlights as the coach of Chu and fellow Olympian Caitlin Cahow on the U.S. National Team.

Wisconsin, despite its loft ranking, is largely untested outside of its native WCHA, with only six non-conference games on its record.