"We want to keep a line extremely dominant and powerful," Stone said. "We feel that the three of them can create quite a bit of pressure on other teams as well as be very creative."

Junior Kiirsten Suurkask (11, 16) will center the second line. Suurkask was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 1997-98 but her performance was hampered by injury for most of last season. She finished strongly and joined Botterill on the Canadian Under-22 Team over the summer.

Suurkask will be flanked by co-captain Kim McManama (5, 4) and junior winger Tara Dunn (18, 14). Dunn and Suurkask each have experience at both the wing and center positions and have consistently showed flashes of brilliance together in their first two years at Harvard.

"Tara and I communicate well with each other," Suurkask said. "We play a similar style of hockey in that we like to stickhandle on offense and read the ice."

Competing for spots on the third line are co-captain Sally Maloney (2, 5) and senior Courtney Smith (1, 9), who spent last season at the blue line after scoring 15 goals and 12 assists as a forward in 1997-98. Stone will also look at freshmen Kalen Ingram, who will join the team after the field hockey season (she was the Ivy League Rookie of the Week Oct. 18), and Tracy Catlin.

Stone was able to move Smith back to forward because of her newfound depth at the blue line, although only two regulars remain from last year's squad and loses the steady play and leadership of Claudia Asano '99 (5, 7).

The anchor of the defense will be sophomore Angela Ruggiero (29, 38), a First-Team All-American who was the highest-scoring defenseman in the nation as a rookie. In addition to her scoring talent, Ruggiero is an intimidating presence who has the ability to shut down opponents' main scoring threats whenever she is not in the penalty box.

Senior Christie MacKinnon (0, 6) is another physical defenseman who will provide consistency and experience at the blue line this season.