PROVIDENCE, R.I.—In a cosmic ballet orchestrated by the hockey gods, the two biggest titans in women's college hockey will meet in the final battle of the 2003-2004 season, when No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Harvard vie for the NCAA championship in Providence tomorrow afternoon.

And neither team could be happier.

"If we are going to be the national champions, we want to play them," junior Nicole Corriero said. "We'd want to play every team we can."

"We are excited to be playing in the game and excited about facing Harvard," said Golden Gophers coach Laura Halldorson. "I consider us to be pretty even. We are going to take into consideration what their strengths and weaknesses are and adjust accordingly."

The Crimson will look to work out the kinks from its semifinal 2-1 victory over St. Lawrence. "We will highlight their tendencies in practice today and pre-game tomorrow, but we are not going to spend too much time worrying about them," Harvard coach Katey Stone said. "We're focusing on our game. We have a large window of improving on our performance yesterday, and we have some tremendous threats as well that they're going to have to pay attention to."

Playing in close games has been an important ingredient in the winning formula the Crimson has put together this season.

"We had some close games this year that really helped us prepare—those one-goal-game battles," co-captain Angela Ruggiero said.

After a hard-fought 2-1 double-overtime victory against Brown in the ECAC semi-finals, Harvard bounced back the next day to rout St. Lawrence, 6-1. Last year, when the Crimson also made it all the way to the championship game, there were fewer of the close battles that have helped shape the current Harvard team.

At the same time, the 15 returning players from the 2002-2003 squad provide the Crimson with a solid core of experienced players who know what it is like to play under the highest pressure.

"I feel like most of us have been here before and we know what to expect in a championship game," co-captain Lauren McAuliffe said. "I think last year we did a pretty good job with our confidence and our composure."

"Drawing on last year, 75 percent of the team now—with the exception of the freshmen—played in that game, in that double overtime," Ruggiero said. "I don't think we'll be as surprised of the atmosphere."

Tomorrow's finale will feature a number of firsts, however.

Minnesota-Duluth has been the only team crowned NCAA champions, winning

the honor in each of the past three seasons. The nation’s best team earned the title in the American Women's College Hockey Alliance National Championship during the three years before UMD’s three-peat.

This year’s championship also marks the first time in the seven-year history of women's college hockey national title games that the two teams in the bout have not met each other during the regular season.

The squads last met in the Crimson's 6-1 NCAA semifinal victory last season in Duluth, Minn.

The Golden Gophers have held onto the No. 1 spot for most of the regular season, losing it briefly to Dartmouth and Harvard on separate occasions.

Minnesota-Duluth was the only other team to crack into the top spot, but did so in preseason polls.

Tomorrow night's contest will also feature two teams who play a similar game—an open-ice style often referred to as European hockey. Both teams bring two U.S. Olympians— the Crimson's Ruggiero and sophomore Julie Chu and Minnesota's Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz—as well as a great deal of both speed and depth.

"Their team as a whole is pretty fast," Ruggiero said. "From what I've seen and the players that I know...you have to look them square in the chest and they're very good with the puck, so you can't get mesmerized."

"Everyone [from Harvard] is kind of big compared to our team," Wendell said. "Our speed is one of our strengths, and I think we match up well against them."

Despite the star players each team boasts, neither the Golden Gophers nor the Crimson plan to shadow any one player but rather focus on the entire line shift by shift.

"We will be very aware of when [Ruggiero] is on the ice and where she is," Halldorson said. "She is a defenseman only in name, I believe.

"We have played a lot of teams with great players—the team that is coming to mind is Duluth. We don't do anything special but just be aware of them and take away their time and space."

Harvard agreed, noting a similar approach to Minnesota.

"We've played some pretty good teams this year with some great players: Dartmouth, [Minnesota] Duluth, St. Lawrence," Stone said. "It's really going to be up to us to decide how this thing goes and to continue to pressure as much as we can.

"You give anybody time and space and they look pretty good, so we're going to try to take that away."

"We've never emphasized one player, one line—we just play our game," Ruggiero said. "I'm sure I'll be more alert when Krissy [Wendell] and Natalie [Darwitz] are out there, a little more defensive-minded."

Though most predict a low-scoring game because of the Crimson's stifling defense and the Golden Gophers’ tendency not to make mistakes, Wendell said she expects "a lot of odd-man rushes and a lot of up-and-down hockey."

Whatever uncertainties may surround the game, Harvard plans to treat it just like another day at Bright Hockey Center.

"We talked about that in Thursday's practice, that this was our rink and to get comfortable, and to prepare just like you would if you were back at Cambridge, with [planning] your day the same way," Stone said.

That includes the support of the Crimson faithful, whose presence at yesterday’s game did not go unnoticed by the team.

"I was very pleased with the amount of fans that were there, and the band was there, and they played a lot, which helped us," Stone said. "That's sort of been the focus—it's nice not to have lugged your bags half-way across the country, just to drive down here...So many people came out to watch our team play last night that it does feel like a home atmosphere."

"Word on the street is that all the Harvard fans are going to group together for the final so that they'll actually be rowdy and really loud," Ruggiero said.

The first exchange in the clash of the titans will come at 4 p.m. tomorrow at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.

—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.