For the No.2 Harvard women's hockey team, last night's showdown with No.4 Brown was supposed to quiet the skeptics.

Blowing a three-goal lead late in the third, and barely holding on for a 4-4 decision, however, isn't a way to inspire confidence.

After the Crimson dropped a 4-2 decision to No.7 St.Lawrence over Thanksgiving and narrowly escaped with a 4-3 win this past Saturday over Yale (1-11), one had to question whether the Crimson has the same skill and determination to win as last season's AWCHA National Championship team.

Without junior forward Tammy Shewchuk or sophomore forward Jen Botterill in the lineup for either game, however, neither St.Lawrence nor Yale had to face the heart of the Crimson scoring machine.

Shewchuk and Botterill had been away with the Canadian National team competing at the Three Nation's Cup. Their absence, combined with the injury to senior goaltender Crystal Springer, partially explained the team's poor performance.

Last night, however, Shewchuk, Botterill, and Springer were back in the lineup together for the first time in almost three weeks, and Harvard should have performed better.

Out of the gate, the Crimson came out firing and looked like a national champion. It controlled play, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead on junior winger Angie Francisco's second goal of the game at 7:52 of the first period.

Despite the quick start, the Crimson attack fizzled in the second period as Harvard became careless with puck in its own zone.