The Harvard women's hockey team entered the weekend needing four points to set up a showdown with No.1 Dartmouth for the conference lead.

Instead, it came away with only two points and a very costly defeat.

The No.4 Crimson (15-7-0, 15-3-0 ECAC) split its final H-Y-P series of the year, defeating Yale 4-2 on Saturday but suffering a devastating loss, 3-1, to Princeton yesterday.

With the championship game of the Beanpot and the battle against the Big Green looming in the future, Harvard's season received a critical blow from the Tigers.

Princeton's victory means that the Crimson will not be able to overtake Dartmouth with a win against it this Saturday, and will need help from other teams to claim the ECAC regular season title.

The loss also severely hurts Harvard in the pair-wise rankings, the system that determines which teams will receive the four bids for the NCAA tournament, and will most likely drop it behind Brown and St. Lawrence in the national polls.

Princeton 3, Harvard 1

All season long, the Crimson's top line has shouldered the weight of the offense. With that line ineffective against the Tiger defense, Harvard could not find any alternative for scoring and fell, 3-1, to Princeton (11-10-2, 6-10-2) yesterday.

Led by tenacious defense, the Tigers stifled the Crimson top line, holding junior co-captain Jennifer Botterill without a goal for only the third time this season and allowing only one goal, to senior forward Tammy Shewchuk, in the entire game.

The Tigers took advantage of special teams, scoring two power play goals in the second period that proved to be the difference in the game. Harvard already trailed 1-0 when Princeton received the man-advantage on a too-many-men on the ice penalty called on the Crimson.

A few seconds into the penalty, the Tigers capitalized and managed to beat freshman goaltender Jessica Ruddock to gain a 2-0 lead. Later in the period, the Tigers scored for the third time, again on the power play. Junior forward Andrea Killbourne fired a slapshot for the blueline that went five-hole on Ruddock and into the net to make the score 3-0.

Harvard gained a little momentum when Princeton was penalized 15 seconds into the third period. In need of a goal, it was Shewchuk who avoided the Crimson's first shutout of the season, shooting a wrister past Tiger goaltender Sarah Ahlquist to close the gap to 3-1.

The Crimson, however, would not manage any substantial pressure on the Tiger defense the rest of the way and Ahlquist stopped the few sustained attacks Harvard created in the Tiger zone.

Ahlquist played a solid game for Princeton, facing 30 shots and allowing only one goal. Ruddock did not fare as well, making only 12 saves in 15 chances.

Harvard 4, Yale 2

Poor ice conditions would not be enough to prevent the Crimson from defeating the hapless Bulldogs (3-17-2, 2-17-1) for the second time this season, although by a far lesser margin than last time.

Harvard defeated Yale 10-2 on Nov. 26 in Bright Hockey Center, but this time the Crimson had to play through cooling problems at Ingalls Rink, which caused the Yale men's hockey team game to be transferred to the New Haven Coliseum, and managed only a 4-2 win.

The star of the game was Shewchuk, who recorded a hat trick and assisted on the Crimson's other goal, scored by Botterill.

Shewchuk was the only scorer of the first period, giving Harvard a 1-0 lead off assists from Botterill and senior defenseman Jamie Notman only 44 seconds into the game.

Harvard took the 2-0 lead when Botterill tallied halfway through the second, but the Bulldogs answered with a score from sophomore forward Deanna McDevitt five minutes later.

In the third period, Shewcuk netted the game-winning goal on the power play, off passes from senior forward Tara Dunn and sophomore winger Kalen Ingram, at the 18:06 mark, and scored once again seven minutes later to complete the hat trick and give the Crimson the 4-1 lead.

Sophomore goaltender Alison Kuusisto recorded the win for the Crimson, making 15 saves in the process.

Harvard's next game is Tuesday against Northeastern in the championship game of the Beanpot.