"I would like to give credit to the entire defensive corps," junior Peter McLaughlin said. "We moved the puck up ice and did the simple things right."

Senior Cory Gustafson reestablished Harvard's three-goal lead 6:07 into the third when he blasted a slapshot by Tamburro on a breakaway set up by a beautiful lead pass by Martins. However RPI never died, scoring two goals, the latter with 2:13 to go, cutting the lead to 4-3.

RPI pulled Tamburro for an extra skater, but couldn't mount much pressure on junior goalie Tripp Tracy. Gustafson iced the win with a longrange empty-net goal with six ticks left.

"We gave them a couple of chances but for the most part, we played an all-around game," Martins said.

At 4:00 p.m. this afternoon Harvard will square off against Union (8-13-4, 5-10-4), who tied Brown 2-2 last night, in Schenectady.

With its win, the Crimson is very much back in the ECAC race, and it now needs two wins or Vermont and Colgate losses to clinch a quarterfinal match at home. With Clarkson losing to Vermont last night, and Brown's tie, the Crimson is only two points behind the Golden Knights and three points behind the Bears.

The ECAC title is still very much up for grabs.

"In this wacky, crazy ECAC, who knows where you're going to be today?" Tomassoni said. "We showed a lot of character; it was a big win for us." HARVARD, 5-3 at Houston Field House Harvard  3  0  2  --  5 RPI  0  1  2  --  3

First Period

Har--Martins (Coughlin, Lonsinger) 9:06, (PP).

Har--Martins (Cohagan, Coughlin) 13:12, (PP).

Har--Lonsinger (Cohagan, Coughlin) 14:48 (PP).

Second Period

RPI--Rochon (Bartell, Regan) 10:34 (PP).

Third Period