St. Lawrence also beat Harvard this season in New York, 4-2. But that was back on Thanksgiving weekend, when Botterill and junior winger Tammy Shewchuk, the team's top two scorers, were in Montreal playing for the Canadian National Team in the Three Nations Cup.

The Saints got off to a hot start, with another upset over No. 5 New Hampshire, but they have not beaten a ranked team since Jan. 7. St. Lawrence, which is 5-10-1 in its last 16 Division I games, relies on freshmen and juniors for scoring and is still a notch below the ECAC elite.

Harvard, as usual, was expected to dominate this game, and that's what the Crimson did for the first 20 minutes. But St. Lawrence, trailing 5-0, played with a sense of urgency after that, outshooting Harvard 24-22 over the final two periods and scoring three goals in the process.

Teams, like St. Lawrence, that cannot compete with Harvard in a shootout must look to pack it in on defense, rely on forechecking to create turnovers in the neutral zone and convert on the ensuing odd-man rushes.

Saints winger Caroline Trudeau's unassisted goal in the third period, for example, came in transition right after scorching shots from both Botterill and Shewchuk had come up empty on the other end of the ice. But St. Lawrence simply lacked the offensive weapons to mount a legitimate comeback attempt once it fell behind by five goals.

The Crimson's next opponent, Dartmouth, is another story. Dartmouth is the only team that has beaten Harvard twice this season.

The Big Green plays a brand of defensive hockey that resembles St. Lawrence's style of play, only Dartmouth does it much better. For example, when the Big Green beat the Crimson in the home-opener, the game-winning goal in overtime came after a Dartmouth steal in the neutral zone led to a breakaway and an easy score.