For the past two weekends, the Harvard women's hockey team had taken to the road and had its hopes crushed.

A 2-0 shutout by Princeton on February 9 and a 2-1 loss to Cornell on the 17th were enough to knock the Crimson out of Ivy League title competition.

That's why this weekend--Friday's 5-3 victory over Bowdoin and Saturday's 2-2 Colby tie--felt so good.

"It was the best weekend road trip of the month," Harvard goalie Tracy Kimmel said.

Make that the best weekend road trip of the year.

Not since Saturday, December 1, when the icewomen travelled to Vermont and pounded the Catamounts, 12-6, has a weekend journey yielded a win.

Harvard's record now stands at 11-8-1, and although the Ivy crown is no longer within reach, the Cantabs could finish their season on an upswing.

The Crimson travels to Dartmouth Wednesday, eager for revenge on a 6-3 January loss, and then returns home on March 2 for a rematch against UVM.

"I was very, very pleased with the weekend," Harvard Coach John Dooley said. "Both of those teams were sky-high to face us."

Both Bowdoin and Colby were playing their final contests of the year, resulting in some high emotions. "Since it was their last games, it was great to screw them up," Crimson Tri-Captain Genie Simmons said.

At Colby, in particular, the highly partisan crowed became a factor in the game.

"There were about 25 male fans, they must have been from a frat or something, and they were really obnoxious and vocal," Simmons said. "When they [Colby] scored their second goal, they threw about 20 oranges and tennis balls onto the ice."

One of the oranges hit Kimmel in the facemask, causing the officials to issue a warning to Colby, saying that one more instance of fan interference would result in a penalty.

Despite the fans' antics, however, the games themselves were worthy of the officials' and players' full-time attention. "Both of those games were outstanding--really physical, which is something we're not used to," Dooley said.

After Bowdoin opened up the scoring Friday just two minutes into the contest. Dinny Starr notched Harvard's first goal with an assist from center Liz Ward at 8:00. Simmons followed up a second Polar Bear tally with an unassisted shot at 14:15.