With more riding on the game than the traditional Harvard-Yale rivalry, the Harvard women's ice hockey team blasted the Elis, 4-0, Saturday afternoon at Ingalls Hockey Rink.

The Crimson-Eli match-up marked the start of Harvard's Ivy League slate. Coming into the season with the strongest women's hockey team in Harvard history, the icewomen hope to be serious contenders for this year's Ivy crown. The victory over Yale gives the Crimson a mental boost going into tomorrow's key contest with Brown, the defending league champ.

Harvard jumped out to quick 1-0 lead with an early goal in the first period. Sophomore Brita Lind blasted the first scoring shot on a pass from Christine Burns with 12:28 remaining. From then on it was all downhill for Yale.

"It really helped to get that first goal," said Harvard Co-Captain Julie Sasner. "It gave us a lot of confidence."

Ain't No Stoppin' Us

Once they lit up the scoreboard, there was no stopping the women pucksters. Harvard continued to dominate in the second period, scoring twice on shots by Sasner and Lisi Bailliere. Going one-on-one from the left side against Eli netminder Tif Bingham, Sasner notched her seventh goal of the season. Minutes later, Bailliere, assisted by Johanna Neilson and Julia Trotman, fired another puck into the net to put Harvard up, 3-0.

"We felt like the second period really flew by," said Sasner."

Still flying at 12:20 of the third period, Harvard tallied its fourth point. Char Joslin, backed by Pam DiRubio and Wendy Millet, scored the game's final goal to boost her season total to a team-high nine.

Yale was able to create some dangerous situations and dominate the play during the last few minutes of the game, but Harvard goalie Jennifer White dashed the Eli's hopes by coming up with 31 saves--15 of them in the final stanza--and earning herself a shutout.

Harvard travels to Brown tomorrow night to face the defending champion Bruins. "If we keep up the intensity and speed that we had against Yale, we should do very well against Brown," said junior blueliner Jane Kalinsky.

"We should give Brown a real run for their money," White added.

The icewomen's shutout against Yale puts Harvard in a strong position going into the match-up with Brown, which beat Yale earlier in the season by a 4-1 margin.

"I think its a good sign that we did so well against Yale," said DiRubio, "but to beat them four-to-nothing is an even better sign."