PROVIDENCE, R.I.—In women’s college hockey, sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way. Then again, sometimes you’re just outplayed.

The latter was the case at yesterday’s ECAC championship, as No. 1 Harvard fell to No. 4 Dartmouth 7-2 at Brown’s Meehan Auditorium.

Maybe curses are contagious—if so, the Boston Red Sox strand may have spread to Cambridge. For the fourth consecutive year, Harvard bowed out of the ECAC championship tournament to Dartmouth.

This year was especially painful. For while the Crimson (29-2-1) had won both previous meetings this season with archrival Dartmouth (26-7-0)—a 9-2 shellacking in Hanover over a depleted Big Green squad and a 2-1 nail-biter in Cambridge—when it mattered most, Harvard came up short.

The loss ended the Crimson’s 27-game unbeaten streak, and Dartmouth did it all with freshman Stephanie Cochran minding the net instead of senior Amy Ferguson, who missed the game with severe gastrointestinal problems.

Dartmouth led 3-0 after the first period and 7-1 after two. In those two periods, the Big Green outshot Harvard 29-19. Though the Crimson outshot the Big Green 16-4 in the final frame, it was too little, too late.

“For the first five minutes, we allowed Harvard to play their game and we weren’t doing anything,” said Dartmouth coach Judy Oberting. “That’s when they’re most dangerous, when you give them space. Then we took that space away. You could feel the momentum shifting.”

But when Dartmouth captain Carly Haggard scored on a breakaway at 8:23 of the first period, Harvard fans were not alarmed. The Big Green had scored first in its two previous losses to Harvard.

“Harvard has not been behind very often,” Oberting said. “Actually we scored the first goal in both games so originally I thought it was a bad sign. But we just kept on going after that and you saw them back up a little bit.”

Harvard even had a power-play opportunity only a minute after the goal. But the Crimson failed to convert under the relentless pressure of the Big Green penalty-killing unit.

When Dartmouth winger Sarah Clark scored on a 2-on-1 six minutes later, beating Ruddock with a soft shot, it became clear something was amiss. The Crimson hadn’t faced a two-goal deficit all season.

Not two minutes had gone by when the Big Green scored again. Center Krista Dornfried poked the puck home amidst traffic in front of the net. The Harvard defense was noticeably ineffective.

“I think when we got up early—three quick goals—they got a little frustrated and a little panicky,” said Dartmouth defenseman Correne Bredin.

Every time it appeared the Crimson would wake up and play like the No. 1 team in the country, the Big Green asserted its place among the nation’s best.

Less than three minutes into the second period, Dartmouth winger Cheryl Muranko made it 4-0, tipping in Gillian Apps’ shot.