BELFAST, Northern Ireland – For the first time in the history of the tournament, four women's college ice hockey teams will compete in the Friendship Series for the coveted Belpot Trophy. Harvard women's hockey will be joined by the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Quinnipiac and Boston University in the field that will be competing for the inaugural Friendship Series Championship at SSE Arena in the first week of the New Year.
 
The Crimson (7-6-1, 4-5-1 ECAC) will begin its hunt for the title against No. 5 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (12-6-0, 8-6-0 WCHA) on Friday (Jan. 2) and will then move on to compete against either its ECAC-rival No. 8 Quinnipiac (14-5-1, 5-4-1 ECAC) or its Beanpot-rival Boston University (4-11-2, 4-6-2 HEA) in the second game of the weekend on Saturday (Jan. 3).
 

Last Time Out

Harvard women's ice hockey last competed on Dec. 5-6 when it split a series with Union and RPI. In the first contest of the weekend, the Crimson cruised to a 4-2 win over the Garnet Chargers. Harvard scored the game's first four goals, including the first goal of the contest from Morgan McGathey under a minute into the game. Zoe Boosamra, Angelica Megdanis and Carla McSweeney added the other goals for the Crimson and Ainsley Tuffy backed the effort with 25 saves to help Harvard pick up its seventh win of the season. 

In the first semester finale on Saturday, Harvard narrowly fell to the RPI Engineers, 1-3. Carla McSweeney notched the team's only goal in the matchup - a powerplay goal - to lead the Crimson offense. Emily Davidson had another solid outing between the pipes, making 25 saves, including 11 saves in the first and third periods. 
 

Harvard Women's Hockey World Tour

The Crimson will be making the trip across the pond over the holiday break to compete in the first ever Friendship Series Tournament. Harvard will compete for the Belpot trophy at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland this weekend against a stacked field. This will be the first time in program history that Harvard women's hockey competes in an NCAA contest in Europe. 

Series History Against the Field

• Harvard and Minnesota Duluth have met 23 times in, with the Crimson trailing in the series, 5-17-1. The sides last met in the 2022-23 season when the Bulldogs swept the Crimson in a two-game series.
• ECAC foe, Quinnipiac, will also be in the field at the Friendship Series. The Crimson and the Bobcats have met 42 times in series history with Harvard owning a slight 20-19-3 advantage in the rivalry.
• Should Beanpot rival, Boston University and the Crimson meet in the Friendship Series it would be the 46^th meeting in the series history. Harvard leads in the rivalry with a 28-15-2 clip having split the last four meetings with its Boston-based rival.

 

Player History Against the Field

• In the series against the Terriers, Kaley MacDonald and Gwyn Lapp lead the active skaters with two points apiece. MacDonald scored the team's first goal in the win in 2023-24. Angelica Megdanis also owns a goal against the Terriers, which she scored in the Beanpot semifinal matchup last season. Ainsley Tuffy made the start in that contest, making 39 saves in a narrow overtime loss.
• Gwyn Lapp owns a goal in her career against Quinnipiac while Emily Davidson had strong outings in her last two starts against the ECAC foe. In those two contests, the senior captain has made 56 saves and allowed only two goals per game.

 

Scouting Minnesota Duluth

• The UMD Bulldogs come into the tournament as the 5^th ranked team in the nation after posting a record of 12-6-0 in the first half of their season.
• The team is outscoring its opponents 55-38 on the year and is averaging 3.1 goals on 32.9 shots per game. The Bulldogs' scoring offense ranks eighth in the nation.
• UMD's powerplay has converted on 7-of-58 chances for a percentage of 12.1. The penalty kill is succeeding at a 83.6-percent clip (50-for-61).
• Senior Thea Johansson leads the team and ranks 12^th nationally with 12 goals and .67 goals per game, respectively.
• Ève Gascon serves as UMD's starting goaltender and has earned a record of 10-6-0 on the year while posting a GAA of 1.96 and a save percentage of .939.

 

Scouting Quinnipiac

• The Quinnipiac Bobcats head into 2026 with a 14-5-1 record and a National ranking of No. 8. The team is also 5-4-1 in ECAC action.
• The Bobcats have had success on the offensive end of the ice this season, scoring 3.3 goals per game on 37.1 shots per game. The team's scoring offense is seventh best in the NCAA heading into the weekend.
• Quinnipiac has been equally impressive defensively, allowing just 1.5 goals per game to rank third in the nation.
• On special teams, the Bobcats have posted a 15.6 powerplay percentage and a penalty kill of 89.1 percent which is good for second in the ECAC and seventh in the nation.
• Junior forward, Khalen Lamarche is off to a roaring start to 2025-26 with 31 points and 22 goals in 20 games. The nation's second leading scorer, Lamarche also owns five powerplay tallies which is the most in the NCAA.
• Felicia Frank leads the goaltending effort for Quinnipiac, having played in all 20 games, starting 19 of those contests. She owns a .944 save percentage and a 1.41 GAA to rank top 10 in the nation in both categories.

 

Scouting BU

• The Boston University Terriers head across the pond with a 4-11-2 record after the first half of its season. All four of BU's wins have come in Hockey East play, where it owns a 4-5-2 mark.  
• BU scores 2.00 goals per game and has allowed 2.94 to its opponents in 2025-26. The team is averaging 28.2 shots per game in its first 17 contests.
• On special teams, the Terriers owns a .053 powerplay percentage and a .812 penalty kill percentage.
• The Terriers are one of the most penalized teams in college hockey, averaging 10.0 penalty minutes per contest.
• Sydney Healy leads the team with 15 points and eight goals while Michelle Pasiechnyk and Mari Pietersen split the goaltending duties for the Terriers.

 

Taking Home ECAC Weekly Awards

Harvard dominated the ECAC Rookie of the Week awards in the first semester, taking four awards in a five-week stretch. The only week the team did not win the award was during the team's bye week on Nov. 20-21. Elle Sproule was the last rookie to claim the title on Dec. 1, joining classmates Izzy Whynot and Morgan McGathey on the Rookie of the Week list after Whynot won the award in back-to-back weeks – on Nov. 4 and Nov. 11 – and McGathey claimed the honor on Nov. 18.
 

Noteable Streaks and Trends

• Ella Lucia has registered five points in her last six games.
• Morgan McGathey has tallied seven points in her last seven games.
• Elle Sproule has collected eight points in her last seven games.
• This season, the Crimson is unbeaten in games that Annie Sun registers a point.

Standing Tall

The Crimson defense has been outstanding in 14 games played this season, allowing just 29 goals and holding opponents to just 2.1 goals per game. That number makes Harvard the 12th best scoring defense in the NCAA heading into the Friendship Series. The defense has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of 14 games and has secured three shutouts already on the year.
 

Minding the Net

One of Harvard's biggest strengths this season has been its goaltending platoon of Emily Davidson, Ainsley Tuffy and Izzy Whynot. The trio has combined to post a GAA of 2.04 (12th nationally) and a save percentage of .931 (10th nationally). Davidson has posted two shutouts and Whynot added another to give Harvard three on the season, which is T18 in the NCAA.
 

Down a Skater, Up for the Challenge

The Harvard penalty kill has been on fire to start the season, stopping opponents on 31-of-37 penalties. The team's penalty killing percentage of .838 ranks fourth in the ECAC heading into the weekend. The Crimson had a season-best 16-kill streak snapped against Brown on Nov. 15.
 

Youth Movement

The Crimson offensive resurgence has been led by its undergraduate players, who account for 59 of the teams 88 points this season. Harvard's undergraduate points percentage of 67 is the highest in the ECAC after passing St. Lawrence (63-percent) and Brown (61-percent) last semester.
 
Nine of the team's 11 points in win over Maine were scored by undergraduate players which was the most points by the group in a game this season.
 

The Tremendous Ainsley Tuffy

Sophomore goaltender Ainsley Tuffy was phenomenal between the pipes in her last outings against Maine (Nov. 29) and Union (Dec. 5). The Massachusetts native made 74 saves in the games, allowing just three goals to earn two wins and move to 3-1-0 on the season. In her four starts this season, Tuffy has allowed just six goals to post a GAA of 1.52. The netminder has also saved close to 96-percent of shots faced on the year.
 
Tuffy's save percentage of .956 would be the best in the nation if she qualified statistically (at least a third of a team's games played) and her GAA would be among the top six in the nation.
 

The Crimson Climb

Through just 14 games played, the Crimson is already showing rapid improvement from its 2024-25 season. The team has already posted seven wins, which ties the program's wins total from the last two seasons combined. Harvard also scored 36 goals in the first semester schedule which is already more than the team's 2024-25 season total of 35 goals.
 

Lucia Leading the Way

Sophomore center, Ella Lucia, kicked it into high gear in the back half of the first semester, notching five points in the final six games of the 2025 portion of Harvard's schedule. The Michigan native scored her first two goals of the season and added three assists in the run. Her season total of nine points and seven assists are both team-highs. The forward has also been reliable in the faceoff circle, winning 52.4-percent of her draws.
 

Keeping it Clean
One of the least penalized teams in college hockey, the Crimson averages less than six penalty minutes per game in the first semester. At 5.57 penalty minutes per game, Harvard's total is third-fewest in the NCAA and its total of 78 penatly minutes is the lowest in the nation.