Per prior arrangement with the gods of women's ice hockey, Northeastern University captured the Ninth Annual Women's Beanpot last night at Bright Center.

But at the end of the first period the Huskies had to wonder whether the gods had remembered that arrangement.

After the first 18 minutes of last night's game, the heavily favored Huskies found themselves in a 1-1 tie with the spunky Crimson. And the Crimson's goal that had forged that tie was other-wordly: before being shoved on her face, forward Char Joslin slid a cross-ice pass to Julie Sasner, who buried a shot into the N. U. net at 13:56.

But eventually, the hulking Huskies got their motors running, the gods awoke and Northeastern captured the Beanpot title for the fourth year in a row with a 7-1 victory over Harvard in front of 250 spectators. In the nine-year history of the Beanpot, Northeastern has copped the title six times.

"Harvard is so much improved from last year," Huskie Coach Don MacLeod said. "They've got several great skaters. I had heard about Joslin and seen her during a couple of scouting trips. She and Sasner were excellent."

"We didn't play very well," MacLeod added. "I felt if there was a time Harvard was going to beat us it was now."

Northeastern had just come off an exhausting trip to Canada--where it had participated in a tournament--and an overtime loss to Providence College. Between the Providence game and last night's Beanpot final, the Huskies had no time to practice, and MacLeod blamed his team's early-game rustiness on that fact.

"We gave them a good game," Harvard Coach John Dooley said. "They could be the best women's ice hockey team there is. At least they have the talent to be the best."

"Northeastern offers scholarships," Dooley continued, "So they're able to go out and buy their hockey players. They purchase them from Canada, Michigan and Minnesota."

A Canadian--N. U. forward Fiona Rice--proved the Crimson's chief nemesis last night. Rice, from Mississauga, Ont., recorded a hat trick and won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.

Rice scored Northeastern's first goal, and her goal with three minutes gone in the second period broke the 1-1 tie and opened the floodgates for the Huskies. She also added the game's final tally with nine minutes left in the contest.

The Northeastern goals were fairly ordinary--most coming off rebounds in front of the Crimson net. But Harvard (now 12-3 overall) got its lone goal after a superb effort from Joslin--who broke through a horde of Huskies before being pushed to the ice by a N.U. defender--and Sasner, who positioned herself right in front of the N.U. net to receive Joslin's pass.

"It was the greatest goal I've ever been a part of," Joslin said.

Sasner--whose 49th career goal in last week's Beanpot game against Boston University broke Kathy Carroll's Harvard career scoring mark--now has 19 goals on the year, and 52 in her career.

Joslin, a freshman, leads the team in scoring with 19 goals and 17 assists for a 2.4 points-per-game average.

"It was a great game," Joslin said. "They were definitely the best team we've faced all year."

"We're pleased with the way we played," Joslin added. "We moved the puck well--everyone was connecting."

The Crimson (7-0 Ivy League) will try to use its gutsy performance last night as a springboard for the rest of the season. Harvard has only three games left on its Ivy League schedule. If the Crimson wins two of those final games, it will win the regular-season Ivy title and earn home-ice advantage for the Ivy League Tournament.

Compared to last night's game, the rest of the season will be a pleasant stroll for the Crimson.

"In order to beat such a powerful team like Northeastern," Dooley said, "We had to be playing our best We're about a week and three days out of exams, so we're only about 70 percent of where we should be."

"In order to do well in the [Ivy Tournament] we've got to be at least 90 percent," he added.