When Harvard Women's Ice Hockey Coach Katey Stone looked over the field a year ago, she was optimistic.

"I foresee it being a coin toss next year, and who knows what will happen after that," she said. "It might be a Harvard dynasty pretty soon."

Stone probably had no idea how just how good her foresight was. Her program stands on the brink of what is expected to be an extremely successful season--a season that could mark the beginning of, in Stone's own words, "a Harvard dynasty."

While a powerhouse Harvard program is a very real possibility as the season kicks off, Coach Stone and her squad are well aware of the pitfalls that lie along the way. Injury, complacency, hype, exhaustion: Any one of these things could waylay the Crimson during the course of its long season.

Of course, on the subject of hype, it would be a crime not to mention the wealth of firepower the women's hockey team will skate with this year.

Harvard's 14 wins last year were its most since the 1988-89 season, and they mark the winningest campaign of Stone's tenure at Harvard.

Newly added to the Crimson roster this year are freshmen Angela Ruggiero--late of the gold-medal winning United States Olympic team--and Jen Botterill of the silver-medal winning Canadian team. Returning to the roster from year-long training absences are co-captain and U.S. gold-medalist A.J. Mleczko and sophomore Tammy Shewchuk, Harvard's 1996-97 leading scorer and a final cut from the Canadian Olympic squad. Returning from the 1997-98 squad are Harvard's Most Valuable Player and leading scorer, sophomore Angie Francisco, Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kiirsten Suurkask, their linemate and senior sparkplug Jen Gerometta, co-captain Claudia Asano on defense and junior goalie standout Crystal Springer. This season also marks the first in which the team comprised entirely of Stone's recruits.

Make no mistake, Stone has a good eye. The Crimson is loaded with talent this year, and the players are smart enough to be worried about it.

"I think that one of the things that we learned from last year was we were definitely talented, but we sometimes relied on that talent too much, which led us to be inconsistent a lot," senior Kyle Walsh said. "No talent in the world is going to help you if you don't hustle."

Mleczko, who took two years off from school to train with the U.S. National Team, says her experience in international hockey taught her the same thing.

"One of the things that I've learned in the past two years is that, in the end, team chemistry is more important than individual talent," Mleczko said.

With that in mind, Stone has been focusing onteam building during the preseason.

"I've tried to tell the kids that, individuallythey've accomplished some great things, and that'ssomething we can all be proud of," Stone said."But as Harvard hockey, they haven't accomplishedanything yet, and that's what we need to focuson."

To that end, Harvard has thrown itself into itspreseason strength and conditioning training witha new enthusiasm.

"I'm very pleased with the preseason; the kidshave really taken this new program by the hornsand developed and fine-tuned it into somethingthat they know is going to make them better,"Stone said. "At the end of a contest, when youknow you've got a little bit left in your tank,that alone is confidence, and sometimes that's allyou need."

On-ice practices have also been much morecompetitive than in previous years.