CAMBRIDGE, Mass - Coming off a midweek tie against St. Lawrence, the Harvard women's hockey team (4-10-3, 3-7-3 ECAC) is set to take on Dartmouth and Sacred Heart this weekend. The Crimson has racked up 14.5 points in ECAC play and is on the hunt for three more this weekend when it makes the trip up North to Hanover. Harvard defeated Dartmouth 3-0 in the first matchup earlier this season.
 
Coach Stone and the Crimson will then head down to Bridgeport, Conn. to take on an unfamiliar opponent in the Sacred Heart Pioneers. The Sunday tilt will be the first meeting between the two sides, and it will take place in the Pioneers' brand-new rink, the Martire Family Arena. This will be the Crimson's last nonconference bout until the Beanpot tournament in early February. This will also be only the second time in program history that Harvard takes on an NEWHA opponent, the first being St. Anslem (W, 6-2) in 2021-22. 
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Dartmouth enters the contest with a 5-13-0 record and is looking for its first ECAC win since November. The Big Green most recently dropped a pair of games to Princeton and Quinnipiac, after defeating Stonehill, 3-2, in its first game of the Spring semester. The Ivy League foe is currently in last place in the ECAC and sits at No. 32 in the Pairwise power rankings. The Big Green scores just over two goals per game but allow an average of three goals per game to its opponents. Dartmouth has had some trouble stopping the powerplay recently, surrendering five powerplay goals in its past six games.

The Sacred Heart Pioneers enter the weekend with a Pairwise ranking of 36 and a record of 10-13-2. The Pioneers are excited to open up its brand new home, the Martire Family Arena on Sunday against the Crimson. The Pioneer offense has been dangerous recently, scoring four goals in three of its last four contests.
 
LAST TIME OUT 
Harvard dropped a pair of contests to No. 4/4 Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend before registering a tying result against St. Lawrence this past Tuesday. The tie against St. Lawrence was powered by goals from Mia Biotti and Hannah Chorske along with 44 saves from Alex Pellicci. Shannon Hollands scored the only other goal over the weekend against Quinnipiac at Frozen Fenway, The results moved the Crimson's record to 4-10-3 and a 3-7-3 mark in conference play, giving them 14.5 points and a seventh-place spot in the ECAC standings.
 
DOMINANT ON THE DRAWS
First-line center, Kristin Della Rovere, has been dominating in the faceoff circle so far this season, posting 303 wins on the dot. Her .617 winning percentage is good for No. 8 in the country amongst qualified centers (100 or more attempts).
 
Despite playing fewer games, Della Rovere ranks third in the nation with her faceoff wins total of 303. The senior captain has also won 10 or more draws in 16 consecutive games, the longest such streak of her career. KDR is coming off a 18 win effort at St. Lawrence in her last outing. As a team, Harvard ranks third in the ECAC with a .529 winning pct. on the dot. 
 
DONUT FACTORY
Three of Harvard four wins this season have come by way of the shutout, giving them the seventh-most in the conference.
 
In all four of Harvard's wins, the team is outscoring opponents, 8-1, killed off all six penalties and scored the first goal in three of those games. Kristin Della Rovere has a point in all four wins, additionally. Alex Pellicci has dominated in the games Harvard has won, recording a .992 save percentage while allowing only one goal on 127 opponent shots.
 
DROPPING DARTMOUTH
Harvard has won the last twelve games against the Big Green dating back to 2015-16. The Crimson has outscored Darmtouth 41-9 in those contests, posting shutouts in six of them.
 
PENALTY KILL PROWESS
Harvard has been solid on the penalty-kill in 2022, holding opponents to only seven goals on 49 powerplays. The mark is good for fifth-best in the conference and is No. 13 in the nation.
 
The Crimson have also made the most out of tough situations in 2022-23, netting three short-handed goals in the first half of the season.
 
IT'S ALEX PELLICCI'S NET
Sophomore goaltender, Alex Pellicci, has started every game in net for the Crimson, giving her team excellent goaltending efforts so far in 2022-23.
 
Pellicci has saved 40-plus shots seven times this season - including a 44-save effort against St. Lawrence on Tuesday - and 50-plus shots in two contests. Her 54 and 51 save games make her just the second Crimson goaltender to record two 50-plus save games in the same season in program history. Her 54 saves against Yale were also third-most all-time for a Crimson goaltender.
 
Her 621 total saves are second-highest in the nation despite playing fewer games than her opponents and her save percentage of .924 is good for No. 18 in the country. Pellicci is on pace to make 1,100 saves in 2022, which would shatter the single season record of 927 set by Lindsay Reed in 2018-19.

LESTER LEADS THE NATION
Sophomore forward Paige Lester has scored two short-handed goals this season, which is tied with ten other players for the most in the nation. Lester is also only the fourth Harvard student-athlete to accomplish the feat in the past ten years.
 
Lester's short-handed goal against UNH also served as the game-winning goal. That is only the third time the feat has been accomplished in the last ten years and the first time since Dominique Petrie '21 did it against Union in 2019-20.
 
DAVIDSON ADAMS IS DANGEROUS 
Sophomore forward, Gabi Davidson Adams, has started to find her rhythm as she gets more playing time in 2022-23. The winger has collected five points this season and currently ranks second on the team with four goals scored. GDA lit the lamp against Boston College (Nov. 22) after posting goals in back-to-back contests against Union (Nov. 4) and RPI (Nov. 5).
 
YOUNGEST TEAM IN THE NATION
77-percent of Crimson skaters are sophomore or first-years, giving them the highest percentage of underclasswomen in the ECAC and second highest in the nation. The only school with more is Stonehill College, who just moved up to Division I in 2022.
 
Cornell and Union are the only schools close to Harvard, as they own 70 and 68 percent marks in the undergraduate category.
 
HITTING THE ICE FLYING
It didn't take long for the Crimson to put a tally on the board against Dartmouth on Oct. 21. In fact, it took only 11 seconds for captain, Kristin Della Rovere to score against the Big Green, which goes down as the fastest goal in team history and is tied for the eight-fastest goal in NCAA history.
 
KDR won the opening faceoff back to first-year defender, Jade Arnone, who cycled the puck up the boards to Anne Bloomer who found a streaking KDR in the slot. The senior forward put the puck in teh back of the net, writing her name in the history books in the process. 
 
Scoring first has been the key for Harvard in 2022-23, as the team holds a 3-0-2 mark when striking first compared to a 1-9-0 mark when allowing the first goal.