MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.--The No. 3 Harvard women's hockey team is just two wins away from claiming the inaugural Women's NCAA Frozen Four and its second national championship in three years at Minnesota's Mariucci Arena.

The Crimson's title hunt will continue tonight against No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs (26-5-4) are the only team in the tournament field--which also includes No.1 Dartmouth (26-3-1) and No. 4 St. Lawrence (23-7-3)--that Harvard (23-9-0) has yet to defeat this season.

The Bulldogs swept the Crimson by scores of 4-3 and 5-2 in their only weekend series of the season, but both teams have taken great strides since those December contests. Harvard is 15-3-0 in its last 18 games, while Duluth is 17-1-3 in its last 21.

"We're a different team than we were in December," said Harvard Coach Katie Stone. "But I'm sure [Duluth] feels the same way."

Tonight's semifinal will feature four of the nation's top five scorers between Harvard's duo of co-captain Jennifer Botterill and senior winger Tammy Shewchuk and Duluth's sophomore pair of Maria Rooth and Hanne Sikio. The game has the potential to turn into a shootout provided that the teams do not tighten up.

"I think both teams have a lot of offensive talent," Botterill said. "Although in the playoffs, teams do sometimes focus more on strengthening their defense. It will be a close game either way."

The Crimson, as usual, will have to take advantage of Duluth's defensive mistakes and prevent sloppy turnovers in their own end to come out on top. The Harvard defense has done a good job of clearing out rebounds in front of the net as of late, but last Sunday the team allowed three near-identical Dartmouth goals on screens and uncontested shots from the point.

"Hopefully, both teams will play good defense," Stone said. "There is a tremendous amount of talent on the ice. The team that pays the most attention to detail is going to win."