CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women's ice hockey is set to open the second half of its semester this weekend with a home and home series against the Dartmouth Big Green. The Crimson (2-10-1, 1-9-0 ECAC) will look to start the semester strong against its Ivy rival Dartmouth (0-14-0, 0-10-0 ECAC). The sides will first battle at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Friday afternoon (Jan. 3) before heading into the woods to compete at Thompson Arena on Saturday (Jan. 4).
The Matchup
Harvard will return to action this weekend for a pair of Ivy League and ECAC contests against the Dartmouth Big Green. Harvard will look to begin stringing some wins together in 2025 portion of its schedule when its faces off against the Big Green. The contests will kick off the busiest month of the year for Harvard, who will play 10 games over the next 28 days, two of which will be played at the 2025 Beanpot Tournament.
Scouting Dartmouth
The Big Green come into the week with a record of 0-14-0 and a 0-10-0 mark in ECAC action despite a number of close contests against nationally ranked opponents. 10 of the team's 14 games have been decided by two goals or fewer including four straight losses by a 1-2 margin earlier this season. Dartmouth is being outscored 44-15 by its opponents and averages just under 20 shots per game.
Lauren Messier leads the team with eight points this season off three goals and five assists. Laura Fuoco's six points is second best on the squad. First-year goaltender, Michaela Hesová, has been the rock of Dartmouth's defense this season, playing every minute of every game while saving 91.5-percent of the shots she's faced and allowed just over three goals per contest.
The Big Green are just 14 games into the Maura Crowell era of the program after the long-time Minnesota-Duluth Head Coach came over to assume the head coach of the Dartmouth program.
Series History Against the Big Green
The Harvard-Dartmouth rivalry dates back to the program's first season in 1978-79 with Harvard currently owning a 55-45-3 advantage. The Crimson is looking for revenge on the Big Green, who took both matchups last year, snapping Harvard's win streak in the rivalry at 12 games. Over the past ten seasons, Harvard has dominated the matchup, posting a record of 14-4-0.
Old Friends Become Foes
The Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice Hockey, Laura Bellamy, will square off against her mentor for the first time in her young head coaching career this weekend when her Crimson battles Maura Crowell's Big Green.
Bellamy worked under Crowell for nearly 10 years before taking the head coaching job at Harvard prior to last season. The duo's time together began in 2010 when Crowell joined the Harvard coaching staff as an assistant coach while Bellamy was still a student-athlete for the Crimson. After her graduation, Bellamy joined Crowell behind the bench for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 Harvard campaigns that saw the group make the NCAA tournament in both years and advance to the National title game in the latter of the seasons.
Bellamy then joined Crowell when she departed Cambridge to take over as Head Coach of Minnesota-Duluth in the 2015-16 season. At Duluth, transformed UMD into a national powerhouse, securing four NCAA tournament berths and two Frozen Four appearances, and a finish as the national runner-up in 2022.
Player History vs. Dartmouth
Senior captain and defender,
Mia Biotti, paces the team with four points in her career against Dartmouth, all coming by way of assists. Fellow seniors,
Gabi Davidson Adams,
Kayley Crawford,
Sophie Ensley and
Paige Lester all own two career points against Dartmouth while
Zoe Boosamra,
Eva Dorr,
Ellie Bayard and
Sophie Ensley all own one point against the Ivy rival.
Shot Blockers
A staple of Harvard's defensive success this season has been its ability to block shots. The Crimson average nearly 18 blocked shots per game which is the third most in the nation and the highest total in the ECAC. Senior defender,
Jenna MacDonald, paces the team with 29 blocked shots on the season, averaging 2.23 blocks per contest, a total is 12
th best in the nation.
Fellow senior,
Mia Biotti, has chipped in with 26 blocked shots for an average of two per contest which is the 23
rd highest clip in the NCAA. First-year forward,
Scout Oudemool, is the fourth-highest shot blocking forward in the nation with 19 on the season and an average of 1.5 per game.
First-Half Firsts
The first semester of the Crimson's season was full of notable first-time achievements. Junior goaltender,
Emily Davidson, recorded her first career shutout on opening night against the No. 8 Connecticut Huskies. Two weeks later against No. 15 Yale,
Antonina Dinges and
Scout Oudemool both recorded their first career goals. In the series against Providence,
Kaley MacDonald posted her first career multi-point performance and
Ella Lucia also notched her first career goal.
MacGoal-Scorer
Kaley MacDonald went on a tear down the stretch of the first half to grab a hold of the team lead in points with seven. She recorded four points in the final six games of the season including three in the series against Providence. The sophomore blueliner has scored two goals and dished out five assists to build her point lead.
Beanpot Season
The calendar turning to the new year also signifies that the 2025 Beanpot Tournament is on the horizon for the Harvard Crimson. The team will have three games to prepare for the tournament semifinal on Tuesday, Jan. 14 against Boston University at Matthews Arena on the campus of Northeastern University. Puck drop for Harvard's semifinal matchups is slated for 4:30 PM.
The following week, the four teams will make the short trip up Storrow drive to compete at the TD Garden in the Championship and consolation games.
Up Next
The Crimson will play host to the Maine Black Bears at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center next Friday (Jan. 10) for its final tune-up before the Beanpot tournament. Puck drop for the nonconference clash is slated for 3:00 PM and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
