CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women's ice hockey will get back to ECAC hockey action this weekend when it hosts Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Union at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center this weekend. The Crimson (2-13-2, 1-10-1 ECAC) will host the Engineers (11-11-2, 4-8-1 ECAC) on Friday night before taking on the Garnet Chargers (8-15-1, 5-8-0 ECAC) on Saturday afternoon. Harvard is coming off a narrow defeat to No. 14 Boston University in the Beanpot semifinals on Tuesday night and will look to bounce back when it returns to ECAC action this weekend.
WHAT TO KNOW
The Matchup
Harvard is set to get back to ECAC action this weekend with a two-game series against the RPI Engineers and the Union Garnet Chargers. The Crimson will be looking to exact some revenge on the two ECAC rivals after a pair of defeats in the first matchups earlier this season.
Last Time Out
Harvard last hit the ice on Tuesday night (Jan. 14) in the semifinal round of the 2025 Dunkin' Women's Beanpot Tournament. The Crimson battled No. 14 Boston University, taking the Terriers to the extra time in an eventual 2-1 loss in overtime. Despite the result, Harvard put forth an excellent effort that was highlighted by 39 saves from first-year netminder
Ainsley Tuffy – who was also making her Beanpot debut in the game – and
Angelica Megdanis's first career goal.
Harvard's defense also was solid in front of Tuffy, holding off a speedy Terrier forward unit by blocking 20 shots in the contest. The Crimson penalty kill unit also performed well, killing off both BU powerplay opportunities.
Scouting the Engineers
RPI will come into the Bright-Landry Hockey Center with a 11-11-2 record on the season and a 4-8-1 mark in ECAC action. Currently on a four-game losing skid, RPI owns one ranked win over No. 14 Yale that came on Dec. 7. The Engineers currently sit in ninth place in the league leaderboard with 14.5 points.
The team is averaging just over two goals per game and its being outscored by a slim 58-51 margin. On special teams RPI owns a 16.2-percent powerplay percentage and a 79.2-percent penalty kill clip. Sophomore forward Morgan Skoda leads the team with 14 points and fellow sophomore Aylah Cioffi leads the team with eight goals. Reese Keating leads the goaltending effort with a 2.32 GAA and a .916 save percentage in 19 games played.
Scouting The Garnet Chargers
The Union Garnet Chargers currently own a 8-15-1 record and a 5-8-0 mark in ECAC action with 15 points to put them in eighth place in the conference standings. Also currently on a four-game skid, Union owns one ranked win over No. 9 Cornell which came in its second ECAC series of the year on Nov. 1.
First-year Karianne Engelbert is off to an incredible start in her first collegiate season, leading the team in points with 18 and goals with 11. Sophomore Maddie Leaney is tied for the team lead with her 18 points and leads in assists with 14. Senior netminder, Sophie Matsoukas, is the teams primary option in the blue paint, posting a 2.55 goals against average and a .912 save percentage in 20 starts.
Series History
The Crimson holds the lead in both all-time series by a wide margin with a 22-9-3 record against the Engineers and a 35-5-1 record against the Garnet Chargers. Harvard is 7-2-1 in the last ten contests against both schools.
Player History vs. Union/RPI
Seven players own points in their careers against the Engineers, with
Paige Lester,
Gabi Davidson Adams and
Mia Biotti tying for the lead with four points each. Lester has scored three goals in five career games against RPI, with the last coming in the second matchup a a year ago. Lester's goal in that game went viral on social media, gaining nearly 250,000 views across all platforms and also landed on SportCenter's top 10 plays of the day.
Against Union, nine Crimson skaters have logged points in their careers, led by
Jenna MacDonald and
Gabi Davidson Adams who own three points each. Davidson Adams,
Ellie Bayard and
Paige Lester have all lit the lamp against the Garnet Chargers.
Tuffy Named to National Watch List
Ainsley Tuffy of Harvard women's hockey was honored yesterday by being named to the National Goalie of the Year Watch List, an award that is sponsored by the Women's Hockey Commissioners Association. Tuffy has been a standout for the Crimson women's hockey team this season, bursting onto the scene by posting a 2.22 Goals Against Average (GAA) and a .933 Save percentage in 11 games played in 2024-25. A Massachusetts native, Tuffy currently ranks 12
th in the NCAA with her save percentage clip.
Welcome Back!
Harvard women's hockey is excited to welcome back nearly 60 former women's hockey players to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center this weekend for Alumni weekend. The alumnae of Harvard women's hockey will be honored during the Saturday matchup against Union.
Lucia Makes History
First-year forward,
Ella Lucia, wrote her name in the NCAA record books against Dartmouth, scoring just 11 seconds into the matchup to record the T-8 fastest goal in NCAA history. Lucia joins former Harvard great Kristin Della Rovere '23 on the list, who also scored 11 seconds into a game against Dartmouth in the 2022-23 season.
Kaley MacDonald went on a tear down the stretch of the first half to grab a hold of the team lead in points with ten. She has recorded six points in her past eight games to build on her team lead. The sophomore blueliner has scored two goals and dished out eight assists – which is also a team-best - on the year.
On Fire
Just over halfway through her first collegiate season, first-year
Ella Lucia is beginning to her hit her stride with the Crimson. The Michigan native recorded a point in five consecutive games, scoring two goals and notching three assists over the stretch from Nov. 23-Jan. 4. Lucia became the first first-year to accomplish the feat since Kristin Della Rovere '23, who hit the mark in the 2018-19 season. It is also the longest point streak for the Crimson since Becca Gilmore tallied a point in 10 straight games during the 2021-22 season.
Blocking Shots
The Crimson's ability to get in shooting lanes and block shots has been a staple of the team's defensive success during the 2024-25 season. Currently, Harvard leads the ECAC and ranks third in the nation with 17.9 blocked shots per game.
Individually,
Jenna MacDonald ranks in the top 10 in the nation and tied for fourth in the ECAC with 2.4 blocked shots per game. First-Year forward,
Scout Oudemool, has also helped out in the defensive zone, blocking 1.2 shots per contest to ranks amongst the top eight highest shot blocking forwards in the nation.
Get to the Garden
Harvard will play Boston College in the third-place game of the 2025 Dunkin' Women's Beanpot at TD Garden next Tuesday at 4:30 PM. The Crimson and the Eagles will meet in the third-place game for the second consecutive season, with Harvard taking the last meeting in the shootout.
