CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard women's hockey will begin a tough road stretch this weekend with matchups at Yale and Brown. The Crimson will look to climb up the ECAC standings when it meets its ancient eight foes on the ice this weekend. The Crimson is coming off a 0-2-0 weekend that featured close battles with Union and RPI. Harvard did however still earn its first point in the ECAC standings after pushing the contest with the Engineers to OT.
The Bulldogs and the Crimson met four times a year ago, twice in the regular season and twice in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament. The Bulldogs took all four games in the season series, but still trail Harvard in the all-time register, 79-13-6. Harvard will be out looking for revenge over Brown, who swept the regular season series with Harvard a year ago for the first time since 1997-98. The Crimson still lead the series in the past ten matchups with a 7-2-1 mark against its Ivy rival.
WHAT TO KNOW
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Yale opened up its 2023-24 campaign last weekend with matchups against Princeton (W, 3-0) and Quinnipiac (L, 3-6). Anna Bargman and Elle Hartje lead the team with two points each while goaltender, Pia Dukaric, has backstopped the team with a 2.01 GAA. Yale has high expectations entering the season, opening the campaign ranked fifth in the national poll. The Bulldogs are projected to finish second in the ECAC standings behind Colgate, according to the pre-season poll.
Brown dropped its first two ECAC matchups of the season to Quinnipiac (L, 0-1) and Princeton (L, 0-3) last weekend. The Bear began the year with a series split at/vs. Holy Cross. India McDadi leads the group with two goals and Kaley Doyle leads the goaltending effort with a 2.04 GAA in three games. Sophomore Jade Iginla led the team in 2022-23 with 17 goals and added six assists on her way to being named the ECAC Co-Rookie of the Year.
LAST TIME OUT
Harvard battled in close losses to Union and RPI in its first two home games of 2023-24. The Crimson set a new season high in goals with four against the Engineers, but were robbed of its first win after RPI scored in OT.
BOOSAMRA STARTING STRONG
First-year forward, Zoe Boosamra, is off to an excellent start in her collegiate career, tallying assists in each of her first three games while playing on the first line. With her assist in the matchup with RPI, Boosamra became the first Crimson skater to tally a point in each of her first three collegiate games since Mary Parker '17 in 2012-13.
The captain of Parker's team that year was none other than the new Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice Hockey, Laura Bellamy. Boosamra is one game shy of tying Kaitlin Spurling, who began her collegiate career on a four-game point streak in 2009-10.
The Montreal, Quebec native currently leads all NCAA first-years with her 1.00 assits per game average. Boosamra also ranks fifth in the ECAC and 12th in the nation with the total.
LEADING THE WAY
Veteran leaders, Shannon Hollands and Mia Biotti had a strong weekend against Union and RPI, combining for seven points in the matchups. Hollands scored goals in both contests and added the primary assist on Biotti's late game-tying goal against RPI which sent the game to overtime.
Both Biotti and Hollands scored a goal and had two assist against the Engineers, marking the first time Harvard has had two skaters hit three points since the 2021-22 season.
A GAME OF FIRSTS
Sophie Ensley and Maria Pape both kept the pucks after scoring their first collegiate goals against RPI last weekend. Ensley, a sophomore forward, scored first and was followed by Pape, a first-year defender, who scored her goal on the powerplay.
CLUTCHING UP
Two of defensewoman, Mia Biotti's last three goals have come at clutch moments. First, Biotti scored with just 31 seconds left in last year's matchup against St. Lawrence (Dec. 3, 2022), to boost the Crimson to a 2-1 victory. It went down as the team's latest NON-OT game winner since at least 2009-10.
Then in the team's last matchup against RPI, Biotti tallied her first goal of the campaign with just over a minute left, tying the game and forcing overtime.
POINT LEADERS vs. BROWN/YALE
vs. BROWN
M. Biotti - 3p - 0g - 3a
S. Hollands - 2p - 1g - 1a
J. MacDonald - 1p - 0g - 1a
R. O'Connor - 1p - 1g - 0a
vs. YALE
S. Hollands - 1p - 0g - 1a
G. Davidson Adams - 1p - 1g - 0a
