Harvard has the talent to beat St. Lawrence, as it showed in a 2-1 Crimson victory at Appleton Arena last month. But St. Lawrence has the type of personnel that gives Harvard trouble. As they showed in the final period on Saturday, the Saints simply dominate the Crimson in three important facets of the game: goaltending, defense and depth.

"We really tried to use all four lines in the third period," Flanagan said. "In the locker room we talked about going with short shifts and sticking with that until the end of the game. We really wanted to overwhelm Harvard physically and tire them out. And it helps that our goaltender is like an extra defenseman on the ice."

Indeed, freshman goaltender Rachel Barrie is an example of the impressive recruiting job that Flanagan has done in his two years at the helm in Canton, N.Y. Last year Flanagan convinced Barrie, who is third in the country in both goals-against average and save percentage, to stay close to her

home in Canada even after she was accepted at Harvard.

Barrie kept the score close early in the game although Harvard outshot St. Lawrence in the first period, 16-5. At the other end of the ice, the Saints took a 1-0 lead when center Amanda Sargeant whacked the puck past Harvard's rookie netminder, Jessica Ruddock, after a Crimson breakdown in the defensive zone.

Meanwhile, it took two perfect plays by the Harvard special teams unit--a give-and-go between Francisco and Botterill on the power play and a patented Botterill-Shewchuk two-on-one breakaway with a man down--to produce the Crimson's two goals. That's because the St. Lawrence defense, led by sophomore Isabelle Chartrand and rookie Lindsay Charlebois, did the dirty work to take away most of Harvard's quality chances around the net.

And St. Lawrence also got goals from three different forward lines. With 10 sophomores and two freshmen on the team, Flanagan has the depth to play four lines consistently, and he needed all of them to beat Harvard on Saturday.