MINNEAPOLIS--In 1989 a Harvard hockey team flew into the Twin Cities for the Frozen Four, relied on the services of a part-time freshman goaltender in the championship game and emerged victorious in overtime. That was the first championship for the men's program, which is still looking for its second national title.

Ten years later, the women's hockey team claimed its first national championship under uncannily similar circumstances when it beat defending national champion New Hampshire, 6-5 in overtime, Mar. 27 at the University of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena, thanks to freshman Jen Botterill's game-winner.

"We have unbelievable team chemistry and it really pulled us through close games like this one," said freshman Alison Kuusisto, who stepped in after junior Crystal Springer broke her collarbone the night before and repeated the performance of netminder Chuckie Hughes '92 by guiding the Crimson to a title as a rookie. "I was really lucky to be on a team like this, and this season has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

But the best experience of all was the dramatic championship game between the top two teams in the country. In a game that saw five ties and five lead changes, the fourth battle of the season between the No. 1 seed Crimson (33-1-0, 24-1-1 ECAC) and the No. 2 seed Wildcats (23-7-5, 19-4-3) was even more dramatic than the ECAC championship game, which Harvard had pulled out 5-4 in overtime six days earlier.

Harvard advanced to the American Women's College Hockey Alliance National Championship game by defeating No. 4 seed Brown (20-7-4, 19-4-3) in Friday's semifinals in a game that was not as close as the 5-3 score indicated.

The two victories extended the Harvard's nation-best winning streak to 30 games and completed a clean championship sweep for Harvard. In addition to the national title, the 1998-99 Crimson also won the Beanpot, Ivy League and ECAC crowns.

HARVARD 6, UNH 5 (OT)

After relying on several unexpected heroes to force overtime in the most competitive college hockey game of the season, Harvard turned to its vaunted top line of co-captain A.J. Mleczko, sophomore winger Tammy Shewchuk and freshman winger Botterill--which became the first threesome in college hockey history to combine for more than 300 points in one season--to come through in the extra period.

And to nobody's surprise, Botterill, the ECAC and Ivy League Rookie of the