The 16th annual women's Beanpot Tournament was different than Beanpots past: Boston University recently dropped women's hockey to club-sport status, leaving only Harvard, Northeastern, and Boston College to contend for the premier Boston-area women's hockey trophy.

Because the tournament now include only three teams, yesterday's first-round action at Matthews arena in Boston consisted of three round robin matches rather than two semifinal matches. The Crimson came away with a 2-0 victory over the Boston College in the first game, followed by a 2-1 loss to highly-ranked Northeastern.

The top two teams in the round-robin portion of the tournament will face-off next Tuesday to determine the 1994 Beanpot Champion.

Although at press time the Northeastern-Boston College contest had not been completed, the Huskies are expected to defeat the Eagles and move into the finals against Harvard.

The Crimson got off to a quick start in its game against BC as Captain Joey Alissi lifted a rebound over a sprawling Eagle goalie at 3:36 of the first hall to give Harvard an early 1-0 lead.

Alissi tallied her second goal of the game with assists from sophomore forward Stacy Kellogg and freshman forward A.J. Mleczko at 11:57 of the first half.

This goal proved unnecessary, though, as junior goalie Erin Villiotte shut out the Eagles, making several tough saves when Boston College increased the offensive pressure late in the game.

Harvard had a tougher go of it in the Northeastern game.

Through the first eight minutes of the game, the well-rested Huskies beat the Crimson to loose pucks and force-checked aggressively.

At 8:30 of the first half, though, it appeared that the Crimson might gain the momentum when Husky sophomore forward Danyel Howard received a two-minute interference penalty.

But the Huskies quickly turned the tide in their favor, scoring a short-handed goal at 9:08. Senior forward Shelley Looney broke in on Crimson goalie Villiotte and blasted a shot off of the left goal-post. It rebounded straight onto the stick of Huskie Junior forward Kim Haman, who slid it into the net.

Faced with a 1-0 deficit, the Crimson regained its composure and tied the score with a power-play goal by Alissi, her third of the night.

But it was to be the Huskies' night. They broke the tie three minutes into the second half on an unassisted wrap-around score by Haman, which would prove to be the game-winter.