Harvard Women’s Hockey Beats No. 8 Quinnipiac in Shootout

The Harvard women's ice hockey team followed up on its 3-1 victory against Cornell by defeating No. 8 Quinnipiac in a shootout, earning 1.5 conference points in the ECAC standings. As the playoff season looms closer, Harvard is making a valiant attempt to secure a home playoff berth, which is only awarded to the top eight seeds in the conference. Currently, the Crimson is close behind at ninth.

The upset win was an extra sweet victory for Harvard (12-12-3, 6-10-3 ECAC), especially given its recent struggles against the Bobcats (21-7-3, 11-6-2). The squad hadn’t won a match against Quinnipiac in its last 10 contests and lost to them in the playoffs last year.

This season, under the tutelage of Head Coach Laura Bellamy, Harvard is striving to have a more successful postseason run.

“We want to be a team that, come playoff time, you don’t want to play us,” said the coach. “That's what we’re working toward.”

Harvard was led by an early first-period goal from junior forward Angelica Megdanis, who, after an off-the-board pass from Scout Odemool, scored from the slot to put the Crimson ahead 1-0. Megdanis noticed that the Bobcats’ goalie was down in the butterfly and ripped the shot over the goaltender’s left shoulder. The puck rang off the bar and flew into the net.

The Bobcats evened the score in the second period. The Crimson had to overcome adversity after a shocking goal with 0.6 seconds left in the period from Quinnipiac’s Taylor Brueska. After winning the faceoff, Aynsley D’Ottavio passed it to a wide-open Brueska, who stepped in from the blue line and fired.

For Harvard, sophomore goaltender Ainsley Tuffy had another excellent performance, saving 30 of 31 shots on goal and building on her 86 save and just 2-goals against performance that helped lead her team to win the 47th Dunkin Women’s Beanpot. Tuffy currently has the best save percentage in the country with .956 percent and is a semifinalist for the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association Goalie of the Year award.

Good defense was especially critical for the Crimson, given it was outmatched in shots on goal by 31-17. Apart from Tuffy, Harvard’s defensive unit contributed to the strong performance, blocking 15 shots as a team, led by freshman Bella Finnegan, who blocked three. The defense’s ability to move bodies out of the slot was especially critical in overtime when Harvard was put on a penalty kill.

In the overtime shootout, freshman Carla McSweeney scored the winning goal in the second round. McSweeney’s performance alongside three clutch saves from Tuffy earned Harvard the win.

Overall, Harvard’s focus is on closing out the regular season with some wins as it vies for a home ice advantage in the ECAC playoffs.

“I think we’re four points back of St Lawrence. So it’s kind of a battle between us and them for that eighth spot,” explained Bellamy. “I think that it would be huge to finish an eighth and host. We can only control half of that. You know, we can’t control how St Lawrence plays.”

“For us, it’s about taking as many points as we can and really focusing on playing the way we want to play. I thought we did a good job of that today,” the coach added.

Up next, the Harvard team will take on the No. 7 Princeton Tigers. The game is the Crimson’s last regular-season home game and will serve as the senior day celebration. This season, Harvard is graduating three seniors: Sophie Ensley, Kate Kasica, and Emily Davidson.

With just three games left in its 2025-26 regular season campaign, the battle for the eighth-place spot in the conference rankings is a close one.

“We’re still in the hunt, so that’s what we’re focused on,” Bellamy said.