CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard women's ice hockey team bounced back in a big way this evening, cruising to a 5-1 win over Maine. The Crimson (6-5-1, 3-4-1 ECAC) had five different skaters score goals – two of which came on the powerplay – to drop the Black Bears (5-11-1, 2-5-1 HEA) in the second game of the series. Ainsley Tuffy turned in another solid effort between the pipes, saving 31 shots and allowing just one goal, to lead the team to the win.
 

How It Happened

Harvard and Maine settled in quickly at Bright-Landry as both teams traded early chances. Despite a stretch of sustained Crimson pressure, it was Maine that struck first midway through the opening period. Lila Shea redirected a loose puck into the back of the net to put the visitors up 1-0.
 
The Crimson responded with poise. Just four minutes later, Harvard evened the score when first-year forward Annie Sun finished off a sharp passing sequence with a one-timer from the left circle. Sun collected the feed from Angelica Megdanis and lifted a shot into the net at 13:57 to knot the contest at 1-1 heading into intermission.
 
Harvard took full control of the game in the second period, capitalizing on back-to-back power plays to seize a multi-goal advantage. Four minutes in, Keira Ley stepped into a shot from the point and buried a power-play tally to give Harvard its first lead of the afternoon. Less than three minutes later, Elle Sproule added another on the skater advantage, hammering home a rebound to push the lead to 3-1.
 
With momentum fully in hand, Harvard extended the margin late in the frame. Ella Lucia crashed the net and finished a pass off the pads from Carla McSweeney with less than two minutes remaining, sending the Crimson into the third period with a commanding 4-1 lead.
 
Harvard shut things down defensively in the final frame thanks in large part to Tuffy, who continued her stellar form with 13 more saves in the period. The sophomore netminder finished with 31 stops on 32 shots to secure her second straight win.
 
The Crimson added one final exclamation point with just under a minute remaining. Antonina Dinges chased down a puck in the Crimson's defensive zone and slid home an empty-net goal from deep with less than a minute remaining to close out Harvard's 5-1 triumph.
 

Harvard Highlights

• Five different skaters scored goals in the contest.
• Annie Sun led the charge with one-timer goal in the first period.
• Ella Lucia, Keira Ley and Elle Sproule scored in the second period.
• Antonina Dinges tallied the empty-net goal in the third period.
• Ainsley Tuffy made 31 saves and allowed nly one goal in the win.
• Ley and Sproule both logged multi-point games by adding assists.
• Bella Finnegan assisted on two Crimson goals.
• The Crimson was 2-for-3 on the powerplay and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.

 

Game Notes

• Elle Sproule extended her point streak to five games.
• Ainsley Tuffy has allowed two or fewer goals in all three of her starts this season.
• Harvard scored two powerplay goals against the nation's fourth-ranked PK unit.

 

Up Next

Harvard will close out the first half of its 2025-26 season next weekend by returning to ECAC play against Union and RPI. The Crimson will play the final two games of the semester in front of its home crowd at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Both contests are slated for a 3:00 PM start with all the action streaming live on ESPN+.