You certainly couldn't call it a finesse game.

The Harvard women's hockey team lumbered to a 9-2 decision over the University of Connecticut last night at Bright Center.

The wide margin of victory highlighted a trend in the Crimson's non-league schedule: the icewomen tend to be either blown out or to do the blowing out themselves.

"All the Ivy League games tend to be really tight," Harvard Coach John Dooley said. "It's a wonderful league--it's so evenly balanced it's terrific."

Seven of the squad's nine Ivy matches have been decided by one or two points.

Out of the Ancient Eight, however, it's a different story.

Just look at the Crimson's scores against non-league opponents: 11-1 (loss to New Hampshire), 12-6 (victory over Vermont), 8-2 (win over Boston College), 8-1 and 8-2 (losses to Northeastern), 4-0 and 8-1 (victories over Boston University), and 7-1 (loss to Providence).

And then, just to be consistent, the seven-goal margin last night.

"You have the Big Three [Northeastern, Providence, and UNH], who are on a different level altogether," Dooley said, "and then you have a lot of different teams struggling or just beginning. But even that is coming together."

"As more and more of these prep school kids come along, schools like the Ivies are reaping the benefits," he added.

The imbalances in non-Ivy play may level out as other colleges begin to reap those benefits as well

Last night, however, the imbalances were present in force. And they were all in Harvard's favor.

Despite the absence of two-thirds of the starting forward line (center Liz Ward and left wing Dinny Starr had their history generals), the Crimson offense started to produce almost immediately.

Or was it really the defense?

Five of Harvard's nine goals were tallied by members of the defense, if you count regular left defenseman Julie Sasner (who helped to fill in for Ward) as a blueliner.

Whatever the case, left defender Christine Burns put the Cantabs on the board at 3:41 with a drive from the point which bounced over Connecticut goalie Debbie Kryspin's stick.

Scarcely a minute later, Sasner planted herself right in front of the net, snatched Kelly Landry's pass from wing, and deposited the puck in the net for her first goal of the night.

Then, just 27 seconds into the second period, Sasner knocked another blast past Kryspin.

"Julie Sasner is such an offensive threat as a forward, but she's so needed on defense," Dooley said. In fact, in her twelve previous years of playing hockey, Sasner had always been a forward.

"It's more natural for me there [at forward]," Sasner said. "But I am starting to like defense. I like playing where you feel like you're helping the team the most."

After UConn forward Kris Carlson notched a power play goal that squirted past Harvard goalie Tracy Kimmel to bring the score to 3-1, the Cantabs responded with their first of six unanswered tallies.

No sooner had the voice died down off the public address system, than Kelly Landry had skated in from the right and worked a Genie Simmons pass into the net, for the final goal of the period.

"Those first two periods, I think we connected on maybe five passes," Sasner said.

The Crimson banged in three quick goals in succession to start off the third stanza on a more organized note.

First Sasner and Simmons teamed up with a pretty end result--the freshman sensation's third goal of the evening.

Next, Sasner sent a long pass parallel to the net from the left, and Simmons backhanded the puck past Kryspin.

Then Katrinka Leschey passed the puck from the right to Johanna Neilson, who knocked it off the goalie's stick. After hovering in the air for a few seconds, the puck finally settled in the net.

Harvard's fifth consecutive tally came at 10:44, when Sasner looped around behind the net and scooped a her fourth of the might to bring...lead to 8-1.

Christine Dooley scored the final Crimson goal less than a minute later, with assists from Neilson and Leachey.

Freshman Tracee Whitley took over for Kimmel in goal late in the period, and yielded a goal to Lauren Fuchs at 12:33.

"In the third period we really played hockey," Dooley said. "We didn't play well at all in the second period--it was really embarrassing."

Rather more embarrassing for the Huskies, one would imagine.

For Harvard, it simply wasn't much of a contest. Harvard, 9-2 at Bright Center Harvard  2 2 5--9 Connecticut  0 1 1--2

First period--1. H. Christine Burne (Johanna Neilson) 3:41. 2. H. Juke Sasner (Landry) 5:08. Penalties--Caroher Kryspin, C (cross-checking) 7:26; Lauren Fuchs, C (booking) 11:02.

Second period--3. H. Sasner (Genie Simmons, Landry) 0:27. 4. C. Krin Carlson (Tracy Fuchs, L. Fuchs) 6:00. 5. H. Landry (Simmons, Senator) 6:42. Penalties--Jane Kalinski, H (booking) 5:17.

Third period--4. H. Sasner (Simmons) 3:49, 7, H. Simmons (Sasner, Landry) 4:39, 8. H. Lethon (Katrinka Leschey, Christine Dooley) 5:31 9. H Sasner (unassisted 10:44 10. H. Dooley (Neilson, Leschey) 11:21. 11. C.L. Fuchs (Carlson) 12:3. Penalties--Jane Kalinski, H (tripping, 1:37; Jodie Herman, C (holding) 13:56.

Saves--C. Debbie Kryspin 29, H. Tracy Kimmerl 10, Tracee Whitley 1

Attendance--And where were you?