CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – It is officially hockey season on the banks of the Charles River as the Harvard women's ice hockey team is geared up and ready to begin its 2025-26 campaign. The Crimson will begin the season with a pair of non-conference contests on Friday (Oct. 17) against Saint Michael's and on Saturday (Oct. 18) at the University of New Hampshire. Led by the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice Hockey, Laura Bellamy – who is returning for her third season at the helm of the Crimson – the team will look to continue its progress as it gets started in 2025-26.
 

What to Know

A New Season

Harvard women's ice hockey will officially return to the ice this weekend to begin its 48^th season in program history. An experienced group of veteran skaters will mix with a talented group of first-year student-athletes as the team aims to continue its growth and progress under Coach Bellamy and her staff, who are entering their third season at the helm of the Crimson. The exciting 2025-26 season kicks off this weekend with the first two of Harvard's 30 scheduled regular season games.
 

The Matchup vs. Saint Michael's

For the first time in series history, Harvard will compete against Saint Michael's College on the ice. A member of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance, the Purple Knights were elevated to Division I prior to the 2017-18 season and currently own a 1-3-0 record through two weeks of its 2025-26 season. The program was swept by Saint Anselm before splitting a series with LIU this past weekend. A year ago, Saint Michael's posted a record of 4-32-0 and a 4-24-0 record in NEWHA play.
 
The team has kept its games close this season, scoring seven goals and allowing just nine goals in four games played thus far. The Purple Knights own two powerplay goals (.143 PP%) and are 14-16 on the penalty kill (.875 PK%). The team has struggled on the dot this season, winning just 34-percent of faceoff draws (73 of 214).
 
Sophomore forward Alicia McDonald leads the team with three goals on the season while Anna Jerylo leads the Knights in the assists department with three in four games. Senior goaltender, Annika Lavendar, comes in as the starter for coach Meghan Sweesey's group, having posted a .965 save percentage and a 1.65 GAA in three games played.
 

The Matchup vs. New Hampshire

The Crimson and the Wildcats will meet on the ice for the 58^th time in series history this weekend when Harvard makes the short trip up to the Whittemore Center in Durham. The Wildcats own a 31-21-5 advantage in the all-time series against Harvard, but it is the Crimson who own the advantage in the last six contests with a 3-2-1 record dating back to 2017-18. The teams last competed in 2023-24 with the Wildcats earning a 3-0 win at the Whit.
 
The Wildcats are starting strong in 2025-26, owning a 3-2-1 record through three weeks of action. UNH defeated Assumption College twice before picking up a win and a tie against Union last weekend. The wildcats are outscoring their opponents, 14-10, through six games and lead in the shots category by over 30 attempts. The group has struggled on the powerplay, however, by only tallying one goal on the skater-advantage in 13 attempts.
 
Nina Rossi, Kelly Harty and Alyson Hush are all tied for the team lead in points with five so far this season, with Rossi and Harty each owning three goals to lead the team in the category. Sedona Baird and Noemi Martinez have split the goaltending duties for UNH this season and own 1.64 and 1.67 GAAs respectively.
 

Behind the Bench

Returning for her third season at the helm of the Crimson is Laura Bellamy, the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice Hockey. Associate Head Coach, Meredith Roth, joins Bellamy behind the bench for her third season with the group. After taking the year off in 2024-25, Venla Hovi returns as assistant coach for the Crimson in what will be her second season with the group. Cami Kronish also rejoins the program as the goaltending coach in what will also be her second season with the team.  
 

The Next Wave

Harvard retooled this offseason by bringing in seven players as a part of its 2025 recruiting class. The highly touted group hopes to make an immediate impact once it begins its collegiate careers in 2025-26.
 
Emi Biotti, Alex Paulsen, Bella Finnegan, Morgan McGathey, Carla McSweeney, Elle Sproule and Izzy Whynot make up the group that hopes to inject energy and skill into the Crimson lineup this season.
 

Blocking Shots

One of the staples of Harvard's defensive success last season was the team's ability to block shots. The Crimson posted 536 blocked shots a season ago, which shattered the program record of 478 set in the 2023-24 season. Kaley MacDonald returns as the team leader in blocks after stopping 65 a year ago. Keira Ley (52) and Ella Lucia (35) also return as key leaders in the metric from last season.
 

The Forwards

Harvard returns a number of experienced players to the front of its lineup including junior captain Zoe Boosamra and sophomore center, Ella Lucia, who finished third on the team a year ago with eight points. The duo will be flanked by returning junior players Brooke Manning , Angelica Megdanis and Gwyn Lapp who is set to make her return to the lineup after suffering a season-ending injury a year ago.
 
Sophomores Antonina Dinges, Scout Oudemool and Emily Hamann will now be joined by first-years Morgan McGathey, Carla McSweeney and Elle Sproule on the line chart this season.
 

On Defense

The Crimson will deploy a number of talented skaters in its defensive lineup this season, led by junior Kaley MacDonald who shared the team lead for points a season ago with 10. MacDonald will be joined by returning players Kate Kasica (Sr.), Annie Sun (Jr.) and Keira Ley (So.) on the blue line this season.
 
Three new players – Alex Paulsen, Bella Finnegan and Emi Biotti will round out the group on the back line this season.
 

Minding the Net

One of the Crimson's biggest strengths from last season was its platoon of goaltenders, Emily Davidson and Ainsley Tuffy, who will both return to the ice for the Crimson this year. Now a senior, Davidson owns a career save percentage of .905 and a career GAA of 3.24. The Canadian has appeared in 24 career games for Harvard, collecting four wins across her time in the Crimson and White.
 
Ainsley Tuffy is back for her sophomore season in Cambridge after a terrific rookie season a year ago. The Massachusetts native appeared in 18 games during her first year with the team and posted a GAA of 2.77 and a save percentage of .920.
 
The goaltending core brought in a new addition as a part of the Crimson's first-year class in Izzy Whynot. A Canadian out of Newmarket, Ontario, Whynot hopes to give the group a boost along with added depth as the team begins the 2025-26 season.
 

Back in Cambridge

Harvard celebrated the graduation of eight senior players a year ago but brings back a young and hungry core of players back to its roster this season. Most notably, Harvard returns two-of-its-top-three point scorers in junior Kaley MacDonald (10 points) and sophomore Ella Lucia (8 points) to the lineup this season.
 
Overall, Harvard returns 66-percent of its point production, 65-percent of its goal-scoring and 70-percent of its assists.
 

Progress Metrics  

Harvard continued to make strides under Bellamy and her staff during the 2024-25 season, showing its progress in a number of key metrics. When comparing the 24-25 and 2023-24 seasons, Harvard gave up 28 fewer goals, which accounts for nearly a goal fewer per game. The team also allowed 15 fewer powerplay goals, which bumped its penalty kill percentage from 69-percent to 81-percent in just one season. Another note of progression was the team's penalty minutes as the 24-25 group took 17 fewer penalties which was nearly 40 minutes fewer than the previous season, showcasing the team's discipline in certain situations.
 
Arguably the biggest showcase of Harvard's progress in the Bellamy era is the average scoring margin for the team. Although the team suffered 25 losses a year ago, the average margin of defeat was 2.2 goals while in 23-24 the total was 3.9 goals. The overall scoring margin went down from -2.6 to -1.9 in 2024-25.
 

New Leadership Trio

Zoe Boosamra, Emily Davidson and Kate Kasica will take on new roles this season after being elected by their peers to serve as captains for the 2025-26 season. Davidson and Kasica make up the senior leadership team while Boosamra becomes just the seventh player to be elected a junior captain in the 47-year history of Harvard women's ice hockey.  
 

On the International Stage

Harvard is excited to feature two Team USA National Team players in its lineup this season in first-years Morgan McGathey and Emi Biotti. McGathey recently competed with the U18 group at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championships, where they took home the gold medal. She was coached by Crimson Associate Head Coach, Meredith Roth at the event in Switzerland and collected eight points with two goals and six assists in the tournament.
 
Biotti saw action on the international level in the 2025 IIHF U18 Women's World Championships, where she took home a silver medal with Team USA. Biotti collected three points in the tournament with a goal and two assists in six games.
 
Carla McSweeney and Bella Finnegan both have experience with the national team program as well. McSweeney competed at the 2023 U18 series vs. Canada and Finnegan skated with the program this Summer at the U19 training camp alongside Biotti and McGathey.
 

Up Next

Harvard will be back on its home sheet of ice next weekend when it begins ECAC play with a series against Cornell (Oct. 24) and Colgate (Oct. 25). The Crimson will first battle the defending ECAC Champion Cornell on Friday night at 5:00 PM before hosting the Raiders on Saturday at 3:00 PM. Both games will air live on ESPN+ with the matchup against the Big Red set to air regionally on NESN.