The Harvard women's ice hockey team has proven on numerous occasions this year that it can rise to any challenge.

Saturday, it proved that not even a tough, scrappy team like Princeton, a crew of incompetent officials and a bad case of first period jitters could slow the Crimson down.

Harvard overcame these factors to post a 5-3 victory over the Tigers in front of more than 250 spectators in Baker Rink in Princeton, N.J. The win, which improved the Crimson's Ivy record to 5-0-1(10-5-1 overall), placed it at the top of the league standings, while Princeton dropped into second place.

"We're really encouraged [for the Beanpot] by this victory," Tri-Captain Brita Lind said.

Freshman Sandra Whyte, the team's leading scorer, sparked the victory with a hat trick, which included a short-handed goal. Lind also added a goal and three assists.

The situation looked ominous for Harvard when Princeton jumped out to a 2-0 lead halfway through the first period behind goals by Sue Finney and Lisa Firestone.

"We played probably the worst hockey of our careers in the first period," Tri-Captain Jen White said.

"We were really nervous because we knew how much was riding on the game," Lind said. "We were playing too much as individuals. In the second and third periods we really played as a team."

Comeback

The Crimson came back late in the first period when they scored two goals in fairly quick succession. Tri-Captain Julia Trotman scored at 16:11 and Whyte scored the first of her three goals at 17:32. Whyte's second goal gave Harvard a 3-2 lead 6:03 into the period.

Several multiple penalties on the part of the Crimson gave the Tigers a two-player advantage during much of the latter half of the second period. However, Princeton was able to capitalize on only one of these opportunities, tying the game at 14:12 on a goal from Eleanor Tydings.

Whyte put Harvard in front for good at 1:51 in the third period, and Lind wrapped up the scoring with a tally at 13:24.

Buy Some Glasses

The officiating was described as arbitrary and inconsistent by a few Harvard players. There was one particularly controversial call in the third period when a goal by freshman Ginny Simonds was nullified because teammate Ceci Clark was illegally in the crease.

Princeton goalie Kari Rosenkranz deflected a shot from Char Joslin at the point, and Simonds was there to put in the rebound. However, the goal was called back despite a rule which allows a player from the opposing team to be in the crease if the goalie in not.

"I looked back and the goalie wasn't even in there," Simonds said. "It was really frustrating because we thought that it should have been our point."