"There were four blatant mistakes by us and they capitalized on them," Dooley said. "We had our chances too, but we just couldn't finish."

The Huskies' first goal came as a result of a give-away by the Crimson defense which left Northeastern's Sheely Looney in a one-on-one situation with Villiote.

Looney wristed the puck through Villiote's pads for the unassisted goal at 2:41 of the first.

For the rest of the first period the Huskies dominated the action, pinning the Crimson in its own end for minutes at a time. Only Villiotte's 11 first-period saves kept the Crimson in the game until the second period.

Villiote ended the game with 26 saves to Flatt's 22, and most of Flatt's saves came off weak Crimson shots as the Husky defense rarely allowed Harvard to set up offensive plays.

The Crimson's third loss of the season to the Huskies was not without its postives, though, as coach Dooley pointed out after the game.

"I think the physical play will help us get ready for our games against Brown and Providence this weekend," Dooley said. "Also, I'm glad my younger players got the experience of playing the highest level of collegiate women's hockey."

"The gap between the best and rest is becoming less," he added.. "Although we lost, we almost got off as many shots as they did. We're not at parity yet, but the gap is becoming less."

The players emphasized the positives of the tournament, also.

"It really was a great experience," said A. Mleczko, playing in her first Beanpot tournament. "I had no idea what to expect, and I'm excited I'll have three more chances to win it."

This year's Women's Beanpot was different than Beanpot's past in that only three teams participated.

Boston University, the fourth team in most of the Beanpots in history, dropped its varsity program two years ago, and after Brown took its place in last year's tournament and won, tournament officials decided to invite only the three area teams.

Because of this change, the tournament's first round consisted of a round-robin tournament, in which both Northeastern and Harvard beat Boston College to advance into last night's final.

The loss drops the Crimson record to 11-8-1. Harvard will next host Providence on Saturday night in Bright Hockey Center. NORTHEASTERN, 6-2 AT Mattews Arena Harvard  0  1  1  --  2 Northeastern  1  3  2  --  6

First Period