The No. 5 Harvard women’s hockey team won a pair of games this weekend to extend its nation-leading unbeaten streak to 15 games.

A 4-3 win over No. 4 Dartmouth on Friday gave the Crimson (20-6-3, 17-1-2 ECAC) the Ivy League title, and the next day’s demolition of Vermont clinched the ECAC crown outright. The year 2005 has seen Harvard go 13-0-2 and win its seventh straight Beanpot.

A less ambitious bunch would be satisfied with these achievements, but coach Katey Stone’s Crimson has loftier goals.

“We’re after another trophy,” Stone said, contemplating the ECAC hardware after the game on Saturday afternoon.

A 17-1-2 record in league play and the team’s third straight conference championship brings little resolution to playoff-bound Harvard, with a busy month of March still ahead of it.

“This is just the beginning,” tri-captain Nicole Corriero said. “This is just the first step of a whole bunch of goals we want to accomplish. We don’t get too excited.”

Aside from not getting too excited, the Crimson will also be looking to steer away from complacency. While teams like the injury-plagued Big Green will spend this week resting and recouping its ailing stars, Stone plans to stick to a full practice schedule.

“We’re going to keep working really hard,” Stone said. “We’re going to work on the things we want to do a little bit better, continue with our conditioning—we’re not going to shy away from that.”

In adopting this preparation strategy, Stone is taking the long-term approach to the coming weeks.

“So that we’re mentally and physically tough when Friday rolls around,” Stone said. “So we can keep playing hockey for the next four weekends.”

The season culminates in the NCAA Frozen Four in Durham, N.H. on March 25 and 27.

TOURNEY TIME

Before the national championship rolls around, Harvard must face the conference tournament, which begins in earnest this Friday. An active final weekend to college hockey’s regular season set the fields for these events, while the ECAC action was of special interest to Harvard, which hosts Clarkson in the opening round.

After missing out on its chance to garner the top seed by falling to the Crimson on Friday night, Dartmouth was nevertheless guaranteed the second slot when St. Lawrence skated to a tie with Colgate.

Yale eased into the fourth spot, and Princeton won its contests over Union to lock up the five-hole, leaving just the sixth and seventh seeds—assured of being Colgate and Brown—to be determined.