DURHAM, N.H.--Apparently for the Harvard women's hockey team, it's no fun being No. 2.

So the defending national champs, who fell to second in the national polls after a 5-4 overtime loss to then-No. 7 Dartmouth last Friday, gave the voters a convincing argument to reclaim the No. 1 ranking.

The Crimson (4-1-0, 2-1-0 ECAC) did that by jumping all over New Hampshire (4-1-0, 2-1-0), which replaced Harvard in the top spot after last weekend, scoring three first-period goals before holding on for the 4-2 victory yesterday in front of a record regular-season crowd of 1,878 at the Whittemore Center.

"We came to play today, there's no doubt about it," Harvard Coach Katey Stone said. "We had a tremendous week of practice, and there was a big difference from last Friday."

The clincher came 8:01 into the second period on a UNH power play. Junior winger Tammy Shewchuk forced the puck out of the defensive zone, giving her linemates a two-on-one breakaway, shorthanded. Junior winger Angie Francisco walked the puck down the right wing and hit sophomore center Jen Botterill as she skated into the slot for the uncontested score.

"On the breakaway I saw their defenseman cheat toward the puck, so I went to the net," said Botterill, who had two goals and an assist. "Angie gave me a beautiful pass so I just had to put some wood on the puck and throw it in."

That gave the Crimson a comfortable 4-1 lead, which was more than enough with sophomore goaltender Alison Kuusisto holding the Wildcat offense at bay. After showing some hesitation in her first start of the season against Dartmouth, Kuusisto looked much more comfortable at UNH, relying on her glove- and stick-saves to control the tempo in her zone and limit the number of Wildcat chances.

"This was a big game, and it really forced me to zone in and watch the puck," said Kuusisto, who made 22 saves. "It gives the team confidence if they see me play big on defense, so I came at it with everything I had and tried to set the tone."