CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The 2026 Dunkin' Women's Beanpot Champion, the Harvard women's ice hockey team has a quick turnaround this week as it is set to welcome a pair of ECAC hockey foes to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center this weekend. The Crimson (11-10-1, 5-8-1 ECAC) will host the St. Lawrence Saints (8-15-3, 6-8-0 ECAC) on Friday before taking on the No. 11 Clarkson Golden Knights (16-7-3, 9-3-2 ECAC) on Saturday. Fresh off the Beanpot victory, Harvard now sets its sights back on conference play, where the team will look to continue to gain ground in hopes of earning a home playoff game.
Boston Belongs to the Harvard Crimson
The Beanpot made its return to Cambridge on Tuesday (Jan. 20) after the Crimson knocked off the Boston University Terriers in the 47
th Dunkin' Women's Beanpot Championship game. It was a storybook ending for the Crimson, who got the win in overtime after
Carla McSweeney scored on a penalty shot. The victory was sparked by a tremendous goaltending effort from sophomore
Ainsley Tuffy, who made 46 saves to stump the Terrier offense. For her stellar effort, Tuffy was named the Beanpot MVP and the Bertagna Award winner as the tournament's top goalie.
Series History Against St. Lawrence/Clarkson
- Harvard leads the all-time series with St. Lawrence with a 46-20-10 record.
- The Crimson defeated the Saints earlier this season, 1-0, behind a 34-save shutout from Izzy Whynot.
- The team owns a 5-4-1 record against the Saints in the last ten meetings.
- Clarkson owns a slight lead in the all-time series against Harvard, with a 24-19-5 record dating back to 2004.
- The Crimson has not defeated the Golden Knights since 2021 and owns a 1-9-0 record in the last ten meetings.
- The Golden Knights escaped with a narrow 2-1 win in the first meeting this season. Ainsley Tuffy was tremendous between the posts, making 41 saves in the effort.
Player History Against St. Lawrence/Clarkson
- Eight active Crimson skaters own points in their careers against St. Lawrence.
- Emily Hamann leads the squad with three points, two goals and an assist.
- Ella Lucia and Kaley MacDonald each have two assists against the Saints
- All three Crimson goalies have experience against SLU. Izzy Whynot shutout the Saints in the first meeting between the squads this season (Nov. 1).
- Lucia leads all active Crimson skaters with two points against Clarkson. The sophomore owns a goal and an assist in her career against the foe.
- Antonina Dinges has also scored against the Golden Knights.
- Zoe Boosamra Angelica Megdanis each own assists against Clarkson.
- Ainsley Tuffy and Emily Davidson have each played against the Knights. Tuffy posted 41 saves while allowing just two goals to the foe in the matchup earlier this season (Oct. 31).
Quick Scout on St. Lawrence and Clarkson
- St. Lawrence enters the weekend with a 9-15-2 mark and a 6-8-0 mark in ECAC play. The team's best results have come in the form of wins over Princeton (Nov. 8) and Boston College (Nov. 29).
- Rylan Haslem leads the team with 14 points and 10 goals. Brooke Mulvihill is right behind with 13 points off 7 goals and 6 assists.
- Kassidy Lawrence and Emma-Sofie Nordström split time in goal for the Saints, each starting 13 games on the year. Lawrence owns a 2.21 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Nordström sports a 2.55 GAA and a .922 save percentage this season.
- As a team, the Saints average 1.9 goals per game and allow 2.5 goals per game to opponents. The SLU powerplay scores at a 16-percetn clip, going 11-for-68 on the season. The penalty kill unit has posted a PK-percentage of .759 on the season (60-for-79).
- The No. 11 Clarkson Golden Knights come into the weekend with a 16-7-3 record and a 9-3-2 mark in ECAC action. The team has defeated UConn (Oct. 3) and St. Cloud State (Nov. 29) in just a few of its key results.
- Sara Manness leads the team with 40 points, 15 goals and 25 assists. Sara Catterall's 28 points is second best on the roster, with her 14 goals and 14 assists.
- Holly Gruber leads the goaltending effort for the Knights, posting a 2.21 GAA and a .921 save percentage in 17 games played this year.
- As a team, Clarkson scores 3.8 goals per game and allows 1.9 goals per game to opponents. The Knights powerplay is on a tear, scoring 27 goals on 90 chances for a PP-percentage of 30.0. The penalty kill owns a .798 success rate (71-for-89).
Bellamy Becomes the First
After capturing the 2026 Dunkin' Women's Beanpot Championship, the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice Hockey, Laura Bellamy, is now in her own category in the tournament's storied history. Bellamy is officially the only person to ever win the Beanpot as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
A member of three Beanpot Championship teams, Bellamy helped lead her team to the 2010 Beanpot as the team's starting goaltender in 2010. In the two games, Bellamy posted two shutouts while making 42 saves to shutout both Boston College and Northeastern. Bellamy was behind the bench for the Crimson in the 2015 tournament and now owns a title as a head coach after winning the 2026 tournament this season.
It Takes Everyone
Contributions from the entire lineup have helped the Crimson find success on the offensive end of the ice in 2025-26. Harvard already has seven skaters in double figures through 22 games this season after having just two in 2024-25.
Carla McSweeney leads the group with 12 points and eight goals while four other players are tied for second with 11 points.
Zoe Boosamra,
Elle Sproule,
Angelica Megdanis and
Ella Lucia make up that group for the Crimson.
Morgan McGathey and
Emily Hamann are close behind with 10 points on the season.
McClutch
In just her first season with the Crimson,
Carla McSweeney is beginning to make a name for herself by coming through in clutch moments. Most recently, the Chicago native scored the overtime game-winner – off a penalty shot – against Boston University in the Beanpot.
McSweeney lived up to her "McClutch" nickname in the Friendship Series as well, scoring the game-winning goal against No. 5 Minnesota Duluth in the semifinal round of the tournament.
The first-year currently leads the Crimson with 12 points and eight goals – three of which are game-winners - on the season.
Standing Tall
The Crimson defense has been outstanding in 22 games played this season, allowing just 47 goals and holding opponents to just 2.1 goals per game. That number makes Harvard the 15th best scoring defense in the NCAA heading into the week. The defense has allowed two or fewer goals in 13 of 22 games and has secured three shutouts on the year.
Harvard's standout sophomore goaltender,
Ainsley Tuffy, made history at the Beanpot on Tuesday, becoming just the second player ever to win the Beanpot MVP and the Bertagna Award given to the tournament's top goaltender. The Duxbury native was selected as the recipient for both awards after making 86 saves and allowing just two goals in the two games of the tournament.
Tuffy currently ranks second in the nation with a .955 save percentage, 10
th with a .667 win percentage and 11
th with her 1.69 GAA. This season, the sophomore owns 365 saves and has allowed only 17 goals in 10 games played.
Down a Skater, Up for the Challenge
The Harvard penalty kill has been on an excellent run this season, stopping opponents on 44-of-52 penalties. The team's penalty killing percentage of .846 ranks fourth in the ECAC heading into the week. 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 81 of the teams 125 points this season. Harvard's undergraduate points percentage of 65 is the highest in the ECAC.
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 Crimson Climb
The Crimson showed rapid improvement from its 2024-25 season in just the first semester of 2025-26. The team posted seven wins, which tied the program's wins total from the last two seasons combined. Harvard also scored 36 goals in the first semester schedule which was more than the team's 2024-25 season total of 35 goals.
Taking Home ECAC Weekly Awards
For her spectacular play in net, sophomore goaltender,
Ainsley Tuffy earned the ECAC's MAC Goaltending Goalie of the Week award on Jan. 5. The sixth weekly award for the Crimson this season, Tuffy earned the nomination after posting a 55-save win over No. 5 Minnesota Duluth in the Friendship Series Semifinal (Jan. 2). It is the first ECAC weekly honor in Tuffy's career and the first Goaltender of the Week award since
Emily Davidson in the 2024-25 season.
The Crimson dominated the conferences Rookie of the Week award early in the season, taking four awards in a five-week stretch.
Izzy Whynot earned the award in back-to-back weeks, followed by
Elle Sproule and
Morgan McGathey. Carla McSweneey has also earned conference honors, being named the ECAC Rookie of the Month in December.
Biotti Beats the Buzzer
First-year defender
Emi Biotti scored the latest game-winning goal in Harvard Women's Ice Hockey history on Friday night, beating the buzzer and putting the puck in the back of the net with just 0.2 second remaining in overtime against Brown (Jan. 9). It was Biotti's third goal of the season and sent Harvard off with its first win over Brown in four years.
180 Degree Turnaround
Under the leadership of Laura Bellamy and her staff, the Crimson has shown rapid improvement from previous seasons. Currently at 11 wins in 2025-26, the Crimson has posted nine more victories than 2024-25, which is already tied for the third biggest turnaround in program history.
When looking at just regular season records, the Crimson's +9 win mark stands alone as the third highest increase in program history, just one win shy of second place and five shy of the all-time record.
Up Next
Harvard women's ice hockey will continue ECAC action next week with a trip to Colgate and Cornell. The series is set for Friday and Saturday (Jan. 30-31) with all the action set to air live on ESPN+.
