‘The Hunter to The Hunted’: Harvard Women’s Hockey is Making its Comeback

ast year, the Harvard women’s hockey team only won two games. This year, the team boosted that number up to 16, posting its first winning record since the 2021-2022 season. Not only did Harvard add 14 more wins, but it also took down multiple nationally ranked opponents, advanced in the ECAC Tournament, and claimed the program’s 16th Beanpot title.

The Crimson’s rebuilding effort, spearheaded by head coach Laura Bellamy ’13, began long before the team hit the ice in October. In fact, the team’s captains — seniors Emily Davidson and Kate Kasica, and junior Zoe Boosamra – first laid out their goals for the team last spring.

“A big part of rebuilding or maintaining or changing culture takes a lot of intention,” explained Kasica. “It was something that we not only spoke about a lot, but also learned through practicing it, like what works, what doesn’t work.”

Although the three captains were already close friends, they approached their captaincy with intentionality. They took the time to talk through all the little details of how they hoped to shape the team, ensuring that they were on the same page regarding their goals and expectations, setting up what Boosamra described as a unified “team within the team.”

“We really try to uplift and drive leadership throughout the entire team, so we wore the Cs on the ice, but ultimately, every seat has some sort of leadership role,” explained Boosamra.

“We view leadership as everybody’s responsibility, so that’s really been driven by the players,” Bellamy said.

The captains leaned on the team’s motto, “Team First,” to power their dedication on the ice while simultaneously promoting a close-knit locker room culture. The selfless mentality, oriented around group rather than individual achievement, has become ingrained throughout the team’s roster, catalyzing success in games.

“It’s the same team we’ve always been in a sense,” explained Kasica. “For me, what that always meant and which was a big motto for us is team first.”

“We actually wear [Team First] on the inside of our jerseys. It used to be up on the walls, and it was the first thing that was said to me the minute I walked in my freshman year, and I think it’s really been a program value,” she added. “The grit, the grind has been there four years, and we were lucky to finally see the outcomes of it.”

Blocked shots, selfless passes, and an aggressive, physical style of play spurred the team’s early-season triumphs. The Crimson matched its previous win record in just the first two games of its campaign and logged crucial wins in the ECAC. In November, it shocked then-No. 10 Yale with a dominant 4-1 victory. With seven victories already under its belt, the team carried its momentum into the New Year as it headed to Belfast, Ireland, to participate in the Friendship Four.

“I think it’s one thing to say a motto or to wear it on your jersey, but it’s another thing to consistently hold each other to what that actually looks like,” Kasica said, explaining how the women adopted the paradigm into all aspects of their lives. “It’s day to day, it’s in the dining hall, it’s on the ice, it’s in the locker room, it’s going out, it’s everywhere.”

“It has to be lived throughout. It can’t just be something that you suddenly see on the ice, and I think that a big part of coming to the spot that we’re in has been really holding that standard, regardless of if we’re in Ireland or if we’re here or wherever,” the defender added.

In the first full women’s tournament in the Friendship Four’s history, Harvard exhibited the power of its “Team First” mentality, as it downed then-No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, where Bellamy served as an assistant coach for eight years.

The game was close across all three periods as the Crimson played fiercely. Harvard got on the scoreboard first when Kasica scored her first career goal while shorthanded.

Although the Bulldogs managed to tally two goals to take a lead, sophomore forward Ella Lucia responded, evening the score to force overtime. In the net, sophomore Ainsley Tuffy fended off 55 of Minnesota’s shots, eventually earning Player of the Game for her impressive performance. Freshman forward Carla McSweeney closed out the game in dramatic fashion with the golden goal, securing the upset victory and sending her team to the Championship Game.

Although the Crimson just lost out on the tournament victory, falling 3-2 to Boston University, the team’s trip was a huge turning point in its season.

“So much for us came from the Ireland tournament. I think having it right when we got back to campus, before the Beanpot, before playoffs, it was like we couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Kasica.

The energy from the trip abroad carried over into Harvard’s busy slate of games. Just one week later, the Crimson defeated Boston College to punch a ticket to the Beanpot Championship for the first time since 2022. Harvard suddenly found itself on the ice at TD Garden, playing in front of 10,000 fans and facing off against Boston University for both the title and redemption.

In front of the rowdy crowd, the Crimson won in cinematic fashion yet again, thanks to another overtime goal from McSweeney, who is now otherwise known as ‘McClutch.’ This time, the rookie capitalized on a penalty shot after Harvard’s defense, backed by Tuffy’s 46 saves between the pipes, frustrated the Terriers.

“The momentum just kept on building, and we just kept on growing and finding our identity throughout the season,” said Boosamra.

“We were able to prove to ourselves that, hey, we can go and win games, no matter where, if we’re up a goal, down a goal, in front of 10,000 fans in TD Garden, or in just a normal game, like during like a 3 p.m. matinee game with a little less fans, or away and dealing with other people’s fans,” the junior captain added.

The Crimson continued to power through its schedule, notching résumé-building wins over then-No. 12 Cornell, then-No. 8 Quinnipiac, and then-No. 7 Princeton. For the first time in Bellamy’s tenure as head coach, the team advanced in the notoriously competitive ECAC Tournament after thwarting St. Lawrence and, in the ensuing second round, forced the Tigers to play three games.

“We’re able to really have so much like pride in the program, every player feels that, every person a part of our staff feels it,” said Boosamra. “It’s really special to have such great moments with the team, whether that was obviously the Belpot in Ireland, beating ranked opponents, or winning on senior night versus a ranked opponent.”

This season, Harvard executed a massive turnaround, which both the captains and coaches attribute to the deep connections the team has fostered and the emphasis on “Team First.”

“Whenever anybody’s like ‘how would you describe Harvard hockey?, ‘What’s the culture there?’ I really think it was just years of people and our teammates committing to showing the value of Team First,” Kasica said.

This approach dates back to before any of the team’s current players were even in college. In fact, the coaches highlight the program’s dominant legacy, crediting the grit and determination of previous teams for setting the standards that foster success today. Harvard women’s hockey has an incredible history, having produced multiple Olympic medalists, notched six Frozen Four appearances, and won a national championship.

“Nobody was gonna outwork them, you didn’t want to play them, you didn’t want to see them on the ice, and I think what’s so special to all of us is we really get to connect with a lot of those alumni,” said Kasica, referencing the 2015 team that finished as the national runner-up.

“We’re so lucky to have such a great and storied history,” she added.

Harvard’s players inspire each other to do everything on the ice for the betterment of the team, not for personal achievement.

“When you are sacrificing the body, or maybe you’re not playing the position you want to, or maybe you’re not seeing the minutes you want to see, it’s how you still show up every single day, and not only push yourself, but also everybody around you to still do their best,” said Kasica. “for me, it’s the Team First, which we talk about so much.”

“It always comes down to Team First,” Boosamra emphasized. “You want to launch your body and your hand and everything possible in front of a puck because of all the time of all the love that you share and experiences that you’ve lived with the people on the bench around you.”

Although this selflessness is shared by the entire team, Bellamy credits the captains for promoting and embodying it in the locker room.

“Kate Kasica is probably the most selfless player I’ve ever coached, and when you have captains and leaders that are really selfless, and it’s not about them, and if they don’t play a minute but the team wins, they’re happy,” said Bellamy.

The coach also intentionally looks for these gritty, selfless qualities when recruiting. Bellamy’s efforts and the mentality exemplified by the team’s leaders certainly helped spur the Crimson to success this past year as its underclassmen scored more than two-thirds of the team’s goals, while Tuffy, just a sophomore, anchored the team in the defensive zone.

Harvard will strive to continue building on its success next season, and it just announced its incoming recruits, including two U18 national team players.

“We feel like we’ve turned this program in the direction that we want it to go, and now it’s going in as far in that direction as we can, and success gets harder and harder to to attain, but that’s what we sign up for, and we’ve talked a lot about going from being the hunter to the hunted, and I think that’s what we’re probably in the middle of that right now,” said Bellamy. “Teams are starting to circle us on their schedule again, and there were many years in our program’s history where Harvard was the biggest game for every team that we played, and that’s something that we don’t take lightly.”

“If we’re getting back to that, then I think there’s certain pressure that comes with that, and we’re ready to take that on,” the coach added.

—Staff writer Isabel C. Smail can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Sofia Zhang can be reached at [email protected].