Women's hockey returns home to host No. 14 Yale, No. 15 Brown

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Harvard women's ice hockey will continue its ECAC schedule this weekend with a series against the No. 14 Yale Bulldogs and the No. 15 Brown Bears. The Crimson (1-2-0, 0-2-0 ECAC) will first welcome the Bulldogs (2-0-1, 1-0-1 ECAC) to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center before battling the Bears ( 4- 0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC) on Saturday. Both matchups are scheduled for 3:00 PM and will air live on ESPN+.

The Crimson will play its first Ivy League games of the season this weekend when it defends its home ice.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Last timeout

• Harvard will look to bounce back from a pair of conference losses to Union and RPI last weekend.
• The Crimson defense continued to make progress, putting together two solid efforts last weekend. The penalty kill unit continued to perform, going 4-for-4 on the weekend and not allowing a single goal while Harvard was down a skater. The team also continued its trend of blocking shots, picking up another 29 blocks in the two-game series.
• Angelica Megdanis And White Patch led the team in shots on goal in the series, with 10 and seven respectively.
• Goalkeepers Emily Davidson And Ainsley Tuffy combined to make 52 saves in the two-game span. Tuffy made 31 of those saves in her collegiate debut in Saturday's game against RPI.

Exploring Yale

• Yale comes into the matchup with a 2-0-1 record and a 1-0-1 mark in conference play after beating Princeton and tying Quinnipiac last weekend. The team jumped to No. 14 in the USCHO national rankings after the results.
• Harvard has a 79-15-6 lead over Yale in the all-time series dating back to the 1978-79 season.
• The Bulldogs possess the nation's seventh-highest scoring offense with 4.33 goals per game through three games. At the other end of the ice, Yale has allowed just 0.67 goals per game, the lowest mark in the country.
• Reigning ECAC Goalkeeper of the Week, Pia Dukaric, leads the game between the pipes for Yale. Her .727 GAA is the best in the nation, while her save percentage of .968 is good for second in the nation.
• Three different skates recorded four points to lead the Bulldogs, including Anna Bargman, Naomi Boucher and Anja Trummer.
• Five active Crimso student-athletes have scored career points against Yale, led by Paige Lester who owns a few assists. White Patch And Gabi Davidson Adams have scored goals against the rival during their Crimson careers.

Scouting Brown

• The Brown Bears come into the matchup red hot after winning a series against Princeton and Quinnipiac last weekend. The Bears were ranked No. 15 in the USCHO poll, marking the first time the program reached the top 15 since 2006. The team improved to 4–0 on the season following the sweep.
• Harvard leads the all-time series with Brown, 53-35-7, but is looking for its first win over the Ivy rival since the 2021-2022 season.
• Brown shows a balanced offensive attack, with nine skaters owning four or more points this year. Cameron Sikich leads the way with six points on three goals and three assists.
• India McDadi currently ranks fourth in the NCAA with a total of 1.25 assists per game. Ava DeCoste is ranked in the top 10 nationally with her 1.5 points per game through the first four games of the season for Brown.
• Nine active Crimson skaters come into the match with points against Brown, none more so Mia Biotti who owns three career points against the Bears. Rose O'Connor, Paige Lester, White Patch And Gabi Davidson Adams they have all scored goals in their careers against the enemy.

Click on the PK

• The Crimson has not allowed a power play goal to its opponents this season, going 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
• Harvard is one of only two teams in the country, the other being Friday night opponent Yale, that has not allowed a skater-down goal this season.
• This is also the longest penalty streak for the program since the 2022-2023 season.

Game winning plays

• Harvard has already blocked 50 shots this season, giving the team an average of 16.6 blocked shots per game. That total is the best in the ECAC and ranks in the top 10 nationally.

From The Blue Line

• All three of Harvard's offensive points against UConn came from the blue line as J. MacDonald got her third career goal off Biotti andKaley McDonaldgetting the assists.
• Crimson defensemen accounted for 28 percent of the team's point production a year agoMia Biottiled the charge with eight points in 2023-2024.

Dominant on the dot

• White Patch has won 45 of the 70 faceoffs she has taken this season, giving her a percentage of .643. That's the seventh-highest rate in the NCAA among those with more than 50 faceoffs.
• As a team, Harvard has a 58.4 faceoff winning percentage through three games. The rate is the sixth highest in the country.

Between the pipes

• Junior goalkeeper, Emily Davidsonperformed to open the 2024-2025 campaign. Davidson first earned a shutout victory in the team's upset of No. 8 UConn by making 34 saves before making 21 saves in a close loss to Union.
• Davidson currently ranks in the top 11 nationally with her .948 save percentage (7^e) and 1.50 goals against average (11^e).
• First-year goalkeeper Ainsley Tuffy also got her first taste of college action this weekend against RPI, where she made 31 saves in another close loss.

Next

Harvard will be back in its home barn this weekend to take on a pair more ECAC opponents. The Crimson first take on the Princeton Tigers on Friday (November 8) before hosting the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Saturday (November 9). Both games will be played at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center and streamed live on ESPN+.