The Harvard women's ice hockey team is going home for Christmas with a win under its belt.

Sparked by a five-goal barrage in the opening period, Harvard defeated Colby, 5-1, Saturday afternoon in front of 60 spectators at Bright Center.

"They played much better than in past years," said senior Karen Carney, referring to the Crimson's 13-0 drubbing of the White Mules last year. "They're definitely a better team."

Harvard (5-2) put the game away with five goals in the first period. On an early power play, junior Brita Lind collected the puck in her offensive left-wing corner and banked it off both Julia Trotman and Co-Captain Johanna Neilson into the net. Trotman was credited with the goal.

Thirty-two seconds later, senior Jane Kalinski shot the puck wide of the net, but Carney redirected the errant shot behind Colby goalie Dina Cloutier for a 2-0 lead.

"I didn't have to move my stick, really," said Carney.

Then Kalinski was whistled on two consecutive penalty calls. It was on the second of these situations that gave Harvard a shorthanded goal. Sophomore Char Joslin dug the puck out of her offensive right-wing corner and flipped it to a wide-open Julie Sasner who buried 50-ft. slapshot.

It didn't take Sasner long to score again. Three minutes after scoring her first goal, Sasner took a pass from sophomore Wendy Millet and put the puck away to make her the all-time leading goal-scorer in Harvard women's ice hockey history.

Joslin closed out the first-period scoring with one of her patented point blasts, and the White Mules went to the locker room down by five.

The teams battled to a standstill in the second period, but not without some scoring opportunities. Lind skated over, around, and through Colby defenders throughout the entire period--including a play where Joslin found Lind circling behind the Colby defense and went one-on-one with Cloutier. Cloutier, however, made an impressive save.

In the third period, freshman goalie Gillian D'Souza replaced starter Jennifer White and promptly faced a barrage of Colby shots. She stopped 12 out of 13 shots. But with just over two minutes remaining, left wing Jenny Webster put the puck behind of D'Souza to break the team's shutout.

The Crimson will now receive a much-needed rest from playing five games in the span of 11 days.

"We needed the rest because we have two hurt," Harvard coach John Dooley said in reference to Carney--who only played the first period--and junior Christine Burns, who hasn't played since the Brown game.

"I thought it was difficult to pick up after Thanksgiving with BU and BC," Sasner said. "But what's really going to be difficult is coming back after exam period."