Harvard Women’s Hockey Has Successfully Rebuilt. Now, It’s Eyeing The NCAA Tournament

Last year, the Harvard women’s hockey team posted the biggest year-over-year improvement in wins in Division I women’s hockey. With standout junior goaltender Ainsley Tuffy back between the pipes, all seven defenders being returners, and much of its offensive core remaining intact, the Crimson enters the season with heightened expectations.

Head coach Laura Bellamy’s ’13 third season at the helm of the program was marked by immense growth from her first two years. After going 5-23-2 in her head coaching debut, Bellamy’s team struggled in her second season, finishing 2-25-2 and failing to win a single away game.

Then last year, spurred by new skaters making their way into the lineup, the Crimson turned things around. Harvard went 16-15-2, recorded its first winning season since 2021-22, won the Beanpot, and picked up a statement win over then-No. 5 Minnesota Duluth in Belfast, Ireland, to advance to the Friendship Four Championship.

Harvard also snapped its eight-game losing streak to Princeton, taking down its top-ten-ranked conference rival twice in February. The program’s remarkable turnaround also earned it The Crimson’s 2026 Breakout Team of the Year honors.

Ultimately, Harvard’s most successful season under Bellamy ended at the claws of the Tigers. In the deciding third game of the ECAC quarterfinals, Princeton jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second period before securing a 5-1 victory.

Now, the Crimson enters this year with its sights set on a new goal: reaching the NCAA Tournament.

“I think the next step is finishing higher in the ECAC,” Bellamy said. “If you’re finishing in the top couple of teams in the ECAC, you’re hopefully getting in the NCAA Tournament. That’s our next step.”

Captain Zoe Boosamra was more blunt when asked what her one goal for the season was.

“We want to go to the national tournament,” she said.

The road to qualifying for the program’s 13th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since the 2021-22 season will not be easy. Starting in 2001, the competition has included only eleven teams: five conference champions and six at-large qualifiers. While the ECAC Tournament Champion secures an automatic bid, the league often also claims three at-large bids.

Although the league remains one of the most competitive in women’s collegiate hockey, the Crimson lost only three seniors and returned nearly all of its meaningful contributors from last year, supporting the merit of its growing tournament hopes.

Sophomore forwards Morgan McGathey and Carla McSweeney emerged as key offensive players in their rookie seasons, tying for the team lead in points with 16 goals. Bellamy expects both to continue improving as players, but also emphasized that the Crimson’s success in the zone will depend on everyone in the lineup, not merely its stars.

“We want to be scoring three or more goals a game, and we’re not quite there yet,” Bellamy said. “We’re not going to lean on one or two forwards. It’s going to be forwards and defense throughout the lineup. Get scoring from everywhere.”

Other returning forwards expected to take on more advanced roles this year include senior Angelica Megdanis, junior Ella Lucia, and sophomore Elle Sproule. Boosamra will remain a focal part of the offense as well, as her seven goals last season tied for third-most on the team.

Joining these returners are three freshmen forwards, who are sure to add even more depth to the already experienced group. According to captain forward Gwyn Lapp, the rookies give the team greater flexibility in assigning roles and adjusting its line combinations.

“I think this year in comparison to past years, we have so much depth on our forward side, which is awesome,” she said. “Competition’s higher. I think all of the forwards have just continued to get better every single year.”

Beyond the added depth, Lapp pointed to the chemistry the forwards have developed as another strength heading into the season.

“We’ve kind of built a trust between the forward side that any specific person can fill a role and get the job done at any given moment,” Lapp said.

That trust, paired with the ability to score from anywhere in the zone, will be especially important as the Crimson looks to improve its power play. Last year, Harvard converted on just eight of its 87 skater-up opportunities, resulting in a conversion percentage of just .092, the lowest in the ECAC.

“What stands out of our power play is just the inexperience on it,” Bellamy said. “Even if you have a tough year from a percentage perspective, we got a lot of reps at it, especially with young players.”

“The power play is a big spot for us to improve, no doubt,” the coach added. “Most of our units were really young. They might continue to be, but they’ve got some experience now. It should help us.”

As Harvard hopes its depth will generate more goals and improve its power plays, the team’s defense and goaltending remain among its greatest strengths. Captain defender Kaley MacDonald spoke to the importance of the team’s tight-knit group of gritty defenders.

“We’re all returners,” MacDonald said. “We’ve all played with each other, and we know each other well. Our coach [Meredith Roth] is also awesome, and with a very good and talented big forward group, that allows us to be more offensive, which is a skill we’re definitely going to work on this year.”

One important returning defender who was key in the offensive zone last season is sophomore Emi Biotti. The Cambridge, Mass., native led all Crimson defenders in goals last season with six, and was selected over the summer by USA Hockey for the Collegiate Select Team.

“That experience is great to be able to have over the summer and play at a really high level,” Bellamy said. “Emi can skate. She’s got every tool there is in terms of size, shot, skating ability. So now she’s got a year under her belt, and I expect her to have a lot of minutes back there.”

Tuffy also received recognition during the offseason after a year between the pipes in which she led ECAC with a .950 save percentage, third in the nation. In May, the Duxbury, Mass., native accepted an invitation to participate in the 2026 National Goaltending and Women’s Defense Development Camp hosted by USA Hockey.

The defenders who play in front of Tuffy do not forget how important it is to have a trusted goaltender to back them up.

“She’s unreal,” MacDonald said. “We are so lucky. I always know if I get beat, I’m like: ‘all right, well, Tuffy’s got it.’ It takes off some pressure, and we’re so lucky to have her.”

A former collegiate goaltender herself, Bellamy brings firsthand experience to developing Harvard’s players in net. She also emphasized the depth behind Tuffy, pointing to goaltender sophomore Izzy Whynot and freshman Serra Yildir as other viable options in net.

“I think the goaltending is a big piece of it, the way we defend, and then I think we’ve gotten better offensively,” Bellamy said.

For Bellamy, the team’s turnaround was not the result of any single change. Rather, it reflected several seasons of work to develop the program’s culture, strengthen its roster, and establish habits that would eventually translate into wins.

“I think it was a build over time, and just really about how we work on an everyday basis,” Bellamy said.

That progress has also changed how the Crimson approaches its competition. After several seasons trying to climb in the conference rankings, Harvard now faces the challenge of maintaining its success while also raising expectations.

Boosamra reinforced that idea, emphasizing that the team has embraced its new position.

“We talk about this a lot between being the hunter to the hunted, and that’s kind of the shift that we’re really bringing into this season,” Boosamra explained. “Teams want to bring their best and beat us every day, which is also in itself a privilege.”

As the Crimson looks to build on last season’s success, its three captains will play an important role in leading a roster that combines experienced returners with new talent. Boosamra returns for her second year in the captaincy, and is now joined by Lapp and MacDonald.

“Being a captain [is] just one specific role,” Lapp said. “You’re still a teammate. Everyone on the team is still a leader.”

The captains emphasized the importance of relying on each other in high-pressure situations, particularly as the team prepares for another stacked schedule. Alongside competing in the Beanpot in mid-January, Harvard will host No. 7 Princeton (0-0-0, 0-0 ECAC) and No. 4 Quinnipiac (5-0-0, 0-0 ECAC) on the first weekend of December, both of which qualified for last year’s NCAA Tournament. During big weekends like these in the past, Lapp praised the team’s ability to work together across different class years.

“It doesn’t matter what grade or how old you are; we’re leaning on each other, we’re pulling the rope a little bit tighter,” she said.

The Crimson will drop the puck for its season opener this weekend, gearing up for the campaign with a four-game non-conference slate before league play begins. After a weekend with consecutive games against Holy Cross (1-2-2, 0-2 Hockey East), Harvard will host Division II’s Saint Michael’s College (0-6-0, 0-6 NEWHA) and the University of New Hampshire (3-3-1, 0-1-1 Hockey East).

Bellamy understands that Harvard’s path to continue its year-over-year improvement and move up in the ECAC once more will not be easy. However, throughout the locker room, the players believe the Crimson can continue its growth and return to the top of the national rankings.

“Getting there is a lot tougher than just showing up, and it’s going to take a lot more than that,” Bellamy said about her national aspirations. “But I think that’s the next step for us for sure.”

Historically, the program has been a mainstay in the national tournament. Between 2003 and 2008, Harvard made the NCAA Tournament six straight times. While the Crimson has never reached the mountaintop of women’s collegiate hockey, it has finished as the national runner-up four times, most recently in 2015.

After last season’s breakout success, Harvard starts a new year with much of the same roster, but a loftier set of goals more reminiscent of the early-2000s teams that contended for a national title every year. It is clear that the entire program has been revamped in Bellamy’s first four years. The question now is whether the Crimson can punch its ticket to return to the NCAA Tournament.

—Staff writer Samuel S. Rudavsky can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @samrudavsky.

—Staff writer Tamar H. Scheinfeld can be reached at [email protected].