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.