They were two teams about as evenly matched as they come. The Dartmouth women's hockey team brought its 8-5 record to Bright Center last night to face a 9-5 Harvard squad. And in the end, it was the Crimson who finished ahead--narrowly--in a hard-fought 4-3 overtime verdict.

After the Big Green erased two-and one goal leads in the third period, right winger Sue Newell turned on the final red light, winning it for Harvard 3:20 into the extra stanza Center Firkins Reed set up the goal, taking the puck from linemate Alex Lightfoot and taking a backhand shot from the slot, which Newell deflected into the net.

Jack Rabbits

The victory was exciting, coming as it did in sudden-death play, but the Crimson certainly had ample chances to wrap it up in regulation. Harvard jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, as Jennifer White tipped in Sue Yunick's centering pass at 6:44 and Yunick scored on a rebound of White's shot at the 13:01 mark.

For most of the second period, the Crimson kept the puck in Dartmouth's end, and its blueliners did a sparking job of shutting down the Big Green attack. Still, Harvard failed to widen its lead, and tested Dartmouth netminder Kriten Bjork only four times.

Granted a reprieve, the visitors stormed back in the third period. Paula Joyce, a blueliner with a booming shot, gunned one past Harvard's Cheryl Tate 3:35 into the stanza, and another that rattled off the post and crossbar into the net less than four minutes later.

Resuscitated

The Big Green offense came to life after Joyce's solo effort, and the Crimson was forced into ten minutes of some of the hardest end-to-end action it's seen all season. With 3:27 remaining on the clock, it seemed Harvard had pulled out the win, when Dianne Hurley banged in Vicki Palmer's centering pass for her 20th goal of the year.

But only 30 seconds later, Dartmouth left winger Julia Nyelifted the disk over goalie Tate's stacked pads to send the contest into the nerve-wracking extra session.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson's win avenges a 4-2 loss four weeks ago in Hanover. The icewomen will make another appearance at Dartmouth for the season-ending Ivy tournament Feb. 26-28. Harvard outshot the opposition by a smaller margin than usual--it was 27-20 last night...The victory, which raises Harvard's Ivy League record to 4-1, marked the squad's first encounter with sudden-death hockey this year...Harvard takes to the ice at Bright again Saturday afternoon, in a rematch of last weekend's Yale game. Faceoff is 1 p.m.