Any game played by the Harvard women's hockey team is guaranteed to produce plenty of goals and, most of the time, a blowout for the heavily favored team.

That's exactly what happened Friday night at Bright Hockey Center, only this time it was the Crimson which found itself on the short end of a 9-2 rout before 1,411.

No. 2 Harvard fell to the U.S. Women's Select Team, which featured nine players from the gold-medal winning 1998 U.S. Olympic Team, in an exhibition game.

Team USA is playing eight Division I college teams this season in preparation for the 2000 IHF Women's World Championship in Toronto in April. The Americans' offense exploded against Harvard after beating Princeton, a more defensive-minded team, 6-1.

"Harvard is a run-and-gun team and that's how they played," said Team USA Coach Ben Smith '68. "But tonight they were trying to do that against kids who could run-and-gun along with them."

U.S. winger Erin Magee, who suffered three blowout losses to Harvard last year while playing for Boston College, got more than enough revenge as she finished a hat trick less than 15 minutes into the second. She staked out her territory around the goal--all three goals came on rebounds that she grabbed around the crease before finding open holes in the Harvard net.

"Erin Magee toiled in obscurity at Boston College, but she has always had soft hands and she can really handle the puck in tight quarters," Smith said. "She's been quiet this year because I've been stressing her to work on defense, but it's nice to see her get more comfortable on the offensive end."

Harvard received two power-play opportunities, and the Crimson cashed in both times.