CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard women's hockey returns to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center this weekend for a series against a pair of nationally ranked opponents in the No. 7 Cornell Big Red and the No. 3 Colgate Raiders. The Crimson is coming off a weekend in which it picked up a point and a half after battling to a tie against the No. 15 Princeton Tigers.
 
Harvard will take on the Big Red on Friday before turning to face off against Colgate in a Saturday afternoon tilt. The Crimson swept the Big Red a year ago, picking up a 2-0 win at home before exploding for seven goals in the second contest of the season at Lynah Rink. The series with the Raiders was also extremely close, with the team playing to a 5-4 loss and a 3-1 result on the road.
 
These games are set to be the last two ECAC contests of the month as Harvard will then begin four-game nonconference stretch starting next Tuesday, Nov. 14, when it hosts the Boston University Terriers at the Bright at 7:00 PM.

WHAT TO KNOW 

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION

No. 7 Cornell enters the contest unbeaten on the season, posting an 8-0-1 record through the first month of its campaign. The Big Red is coming off 6-1 and 5-1 wins over Yale and Brown, respectively, helping the team improve to 4-0-0 in ECAC play. Cornell's best start in program history has been powered by senior forward Izzy Daniel, who has collected 22 points, nine goals and 13 assists through nine games. Annelies Bergmann leads the effort between the pipes, posting a 1.41 GAA and a .934 save percentage in seven starts this year.
 
No. 3 Colgate comes into the matchup winners of its past eight contests, including a four-game win streak in ECAC action. The Raiders are outscoring its opponents 42-15 on the young season and has scored four or more goals in all but one contest in the run. Danielle Serdachny has set the pace on offense, scoring six goals and dishing out 12 assists to lead the team with 18 points. Kristyna Kaltounkova is right behind her, with 17 points off nine goals and eight assists.
 

LAST TIME OUT

Harvard nearly knocked off the Princeton Tigers in the first matchup of its back-to-back last weekend, eventually playing to a 1-1 tie against the Ivy foe. Ellie Bayard netted her first goal of the season against the Tigers, hammering home a feed from Brooke Manning by way of Shannon Hollands. Alex Pellicci made 30 saves in the OT contest, her second highest total of the season. The powerplay continued to produce in the matchup with the Quinnipiac Bobcats, netting the team's lone goal in the matchup. Gwyn Lapp was credited with the tally, her second powerplay goal of the season.
 

POWERING THE POWERPLAY

After a tough start to the season, the Crimson powerplay unit has begun to produce results over the past five games, converting on four of its last 15 woman-advantages. Two of those tallies came in the matchup against RPI and the last two have been scored by Gwyn Lapp against Yale (Oct. 27) and Princeton (Nov. 3). Gwyn Lapp scored the PPG against the Bulldogs - the first goal of her career - and Shannon Hollands and Maria Pape have also tallied goals on the powerplay this season. The Crimson is ranked no. 18 in the nation with its .200 powerplay percentage. Lapp's two PP goals are good for T-19 in the nation.
 

LEADING THE WAY

Shannon Hollands has collected five points through the first seven games of the regular season, scoring two goals and dishing out three assists which is good for a share of the team lead in all three categories.
 

POINT LEADERS vs. CORNELL/COLGATE

vs. CORNELL
G. Davidson Adams- 3p - 1g - 2a
S. Hollands - 2p - 1g - 1a
J. MacDonald - 2p - 0g - 2a
E. Bayard - 2p - 0g - 2a
G. Lapp - 1p - 0g - 1a
 
vs. COLGATE
S. Hollands - 1p - 1g - 0a
H. Chorske - 1p - 1g - 0a
J. MacDonald - 1p - 0g - 1a
G. Lapp - 1p - 0g - 1a
 

GETTING IN THE WAY

Mia Biotti and Maria Pape have been fearless in their defensive zone this season, blocking a team high 17 and 15 shots respectively.
 

HOLLANDS AND BIOTTI LEAD THE WAY vs. RPI

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 assists against the Engineers, marking the first time Harvard has had two skaters hit three points since the 2021-22 season.
 

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Junior captain Alex Pellicci had a solid three-game stretch against Yale, Brown and Princeton, allowing just five goals on 85 shots and leading the team to a 1-1 tie against the Tigers. Her .941 save percentage is the highest in a three-game stretch this season and the second highest of her career (.963, Oct. 21-Oct. 29).

 
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.