"Everybody battled hard, but we made a few mistakes and Dartmouth capitalized on them," Harvard Coach Katey Stone said. " Since we've only practiced as an entire team for four days, we still have some adjusting to do."

The Big Green's game-winning goal came 9:30 into the third period by the hand of forward Kim McCollough. After Crimson junior goaltender Alison Kuusisto had stopped multiple shots, McCollough recovered the rebound a few feet in front of the net and shot it past a sprawling Kuusisto to give Dartmouth a 5-3 lead.

"We played really well at times, but we also had some critical lapses," Botterill said. "We must improve our consistency and play three solid periods."

The goal marked the second of the period and third in a row for the Big Green, who at one point trailed 2-0.

At the start of the period, Dartmouth defenseman Correne Bredin received a pass from McCollough and took advantage of the screens in front of Kuusisto to shoot it past her and give the Big Green a 4-3 lead.

McCollough tallied a few minutes later to give Dartmouth a seemingly insurmountable lead, but the Crimson fought to get back into the game.

Placing increasing pressure on Big Green goalie Amy Ferguson, Harvard finally broke through 14:56 into the third period.

Senior forward Tammy Shewchuk, making her season debut after missing the Crimson's first four games, came flying down the right side while senior forward Kiirsten Suurkask approached from the left with the puck. Suurkask drew Ferguson to the left side and passed to Shewchuk, who easily found the wide open net to cut the Dartmouth lead to 5-4.