The match-up of the weekend in women's college hockey will take place Sunday in Durham, N.H., where No. 3 Harvard will take on No. 1 New Hampshire.

Before that, however, the Crimson (5-1-0, 3-1-0 ECAC) will play at Colby (0-4-0, 0-4-0 ECAC) in Waterville, Maine. Harvard hopes to warm up against the White Mules to be sharp for the showdown with UNH (5-0-3, 4-0-2 ECAC) the next day.

This weekend's contests are the first of seven consecutive road games for the Crimson, which will not play at the Bright Hockey Center again until Jan. 2. Harvard has not played since blowing out St. Lawrence and Cornell on Nov. 20 and 21 at the Bright Center.

"We haven't played a game in about two weeks, so it will be good to get on the ice against Colby," Harvard Coach Katey Stone said. "If we played UNH first and then Colby I'd have more concern just because I'd like to be in a game situation again before we hit the ice against the Wildcats."

If the Crimson is on its game against Colby, things could get ugly in Waterville. Harvard sports the second-best offense in the ECAC, averaging 5.83 goals per game, and Colby has the lowest-rated defense in the conference, giving up 9.25 goals per contest. The White Mules also have the worst offense in the ECAC, averaging 0.75 goals per game.

Colby, which will become a Division III women's hockey team next season, has struggled in its final Division I campaign. The White Mules have been outscored 37-3 en route to falling into a tie for 13th place in the ECAC and are still looking for their first victory.

The only bright spot for Colby is the experience sophomore goaltender Josephine Chapman has been getting between the pipes. Chapman is the reigning ECAC Goaltender of the Week after posting 153 saves against No. 2 Brown and No. 6 Providence last weekend. However, she also gave up 21 goals in the two contests.

With Chapman taking the heat on defense, the White Mules have not been able to get much offensive experience for its young team, which has only one senior and one junior. The only goals have come from sophomore forward Emiko Domoto-Reilly and junior forward Alanna Mingay.

There will be no lopsided match-up in Durham, however. The only team with more offensive production than Harvard is UNH, which averages 6.5 goals a game. The Crimson has given up 1.67 goals a contest, and the Wildcats have surrendered 1.38 goals per game.

The Wildcats will send scorers at the Crimson defense in waves, with eight players having scored more than ten points after just eight games. Senior defenseman Nicki Luongo, the third-highest scorer in the ECAC, will lead the UNH attack. Luongo and junior forward Carisa Zaban have combined for 21 assists this season and will handle the puck for UNH.

Luongo and Zaban have plenty of teammates eager to get the puck and shoot on goal. The most potent scorers have been junior forward Samantha Holmes and sophomore forward Michelle Thornton, who have combined for 16 goals.

That means Harvard's defense must be on the top of its game. The Crimson gave up two goals each to St. Lawrence and Cornell, but it has not faced an offense like UNH.

"We're going to be fine on the defensive end, we just need to play our game because we have some great defensemen," co-captain Claudia Asano said. "We've been working on our defense since the beginning of the season because we've known it's a weakness, and recently we've been picking up our defensive zone coverage."

Asano and freshman sensation Angela Ruggiero will anchor the Crimson defense in front of junior netminder Crystal Springer, with help from defensemen Christie MacKinnon and Julie Rando. If they can move the puck quickly out of the defensive zone, Harvard's explosive offense will be able to put pressure on UNH.

"We need to have a big game from Crystal Springer and then we need to work our way up from there," Stone said. "We need to make sure we control our own end first and then dominate in the neutral zone because the offense will take care of itself."