The Crimson eliminated the Saints from the ECAC tournament for the second straight season on Saturday by a 7-1 margin. Last season, Harvard pounded the Saints 7-3 in the quarterfinals.

The close battle predicted by the teams' preseason meetings never materialized, as Harvard quickly jumped to a 4-0 lead midway through the second period and never looked back. Harvard added three more goals in the third period to deal ECAC Rookie of the Year goaltender Rachel Barrie her worst outing of the season.

"Maybe I convinced them," Stone said. "[I told them] you can win a close game against St. Lawrence or you can blow them out, because you certainly have the ability to blow them out. If we play our game, we have that ability every day."

In spite of the 7-1 loss, the Saints nevertheless made the NCAA Tournament. Margin of defeat is generally not taken into account in tournament selection procedures.

Anticipating the spectacular play of Barrie--who had already limited the Crimson offense to four goals in two meetings this season--Harvard decisively took control of the game in the first period.

At 10:16 of the first frame, sophomore defenseman Pam Van Reesema shot the puck from the top of the right circle and Barrie made the save. The rebound bounced out in front and right onto the stick of a wide-open Botterill, who quickly fired the puck under Barrie's right pad to give Harvard the 1-0 lead.

"The rest of my teammates were doing a great job of battling and getting the shot off, so the rebound was just sitting there and I tried to bury it," Botterill said.

After the goal, the Saints' situation only worsened when Francisco aggressively checked St. Lawrence senior winger Carolyn Trudeau, the Saints' third leading scorer and career goals leader, into the left-side boards. Trudeau had to leave the game with an ankle injury and did not return.