Bulldogs Squeak Past Icewomen, 3-2

It's been that kind of a season, one you might call a "rebuilding time" or a "learning year" or an "opportunity to gain experience." The women's hockey team, though, mostly calls it frustrating.

That adjective took on a new meaning Saturday, as the Crimson--now 2.8-- matched an equally strong Yale team until the final two minutes of the game, when the Elis unknotted the score to hand Harvard yet another frustrating loss, 3-2, in New Haven, Conn.

"We thought that we should have won again," junior co-captain Lauren Norton said yesterday. "They aren't as good as some of the other teams we've played."

The icewomen had more shots on goal that their Eli opponents. Most of those shots, however, came in the final two periods of the game, after Yale had gone ahead in the first stanza, 2-0.

The Bulldog bang hampered the Crimson's early efforts to ward off the Yale offense. The icewomen couldn't hear each other over the din, and they had trouble concentrating on the game.

Despite the obstacles, the Crimson almost succeeded in rallying back from the early deficit. Freshman standout Alex Lightfoot scored that first Harvard tally on a Rosemary Mahoney assist.

The Crimson caught up with the Elis in period three on a bullet from the point by senior defenseman Anna Jones. Right winger Sara Fischer, who notched an assist on that goal, fought aggressively, but was unable to forge ahead before Yale scored the gamewinner.

Although the Yale band and the controversial refereeing exacerbated the icewomen's season-long frustration, in many was Saturday's game merely highlighted a season theme: Harvard's failure to control the puck in front of the opposing team's net.

Giving It Up

"We give it up a lot when we should be forcing it in a lot more," Norton said, adding, "We've got to work on individual shooting skills."