With its top two players nursing injuries, the Harvard women's squash team expected anything but a strong finish this weekend at the Princeton Invitational. But behind stellar performances from its next four seeds, the racquet women fared surprisingly well.

Mary Hulbert, currently seeded first on the squad, finished third in the tourney's main draw, while Jackie Corrigan. Lisa Harrison and Lili Pew each advanced to the semifinals of the consolation bracket.

The tournament, which brought together the nation's top 16 players, marked the first intercollegiate action of the year for Harvard.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad successfully opened the Crimson season with a 7-0 win over Bowdoin Saturday at Hemen way Gym.

"It was an extremely successful weekend." Harvard Coach Pries Pool said, "especially considering we were missing Diane Staley and Laura Kaye [Harvard's top two players] at Princeton, and the team beat Bowdoin without most of our top players."

Second Chance

Seeded third in the tourney. Hulbert knocked off Yale's Zerline Goodman, to take third place. Goodwin defeated Hulbert in this tournament last year.

Corrigan, currently seeded second on the Crimson squad, dropped a tough four-set match to the tournament's second seed. Nina Porter, of Trinity, in the quarters. But Corrigan advanced to the semis of the consolation draw before losing to Penn's Patrice McConnell, 10-15, 15-12, 10-15, 14-16.

The Crimson's other two players in the tournament. Harrison and Pew, lost early in the tourney, but made it do the semis of the consolation, where Harrison knocked off teammate Pew, 11-15, 15-9, 15-5, 16-14.