It's unlikely that either Silva or Quinlan will give up any cheap goals, so Harvard will have to give itself plenty of chances to score.
"We know we have to take good shots this weekend," said sophomore defenseman Jamie Hagerman. "We need more shots on net and more quality shots in the slot."
The Crimson also needs to clean up its act in the defensive zone. St. Lawrence and Cornell were able to stay competitive last weekend in part because the Harvard skaters failed to get back in transition and cut off opposing forwards between the circles.
"We let them take a lot more higher-percentage shots than we normally allow," Hagerman said. "That was the problem against St. Lawrence, and we gave Cornell a two-on-one that let them take the lead. The defense can't let those shots get off uncontested. We need to pressure them and not let them put the puck on net."
Fortunately for the Crimson, neither the Huskies nor the Friars have a plethora of go-to scorers. Senior Jess Tabb (10 goals, 19 assists) leads the Providence attack while senior Lisa Giovanelli (10 g, 11 a) is Northeastern's top scorer. However, both teams have scored more goals than either St. Lawrence or Cornell.
Tonight's opponent, Northeastern, might look a little slow when it takes the ice. After upsetting Dartmouth at home last Friday, the Huskies traveled west for a two-game series at No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth. Northeastern hung with the Bulldogs in the first game, losing 3-2, but it got blown away in the finale, a 12-0 UMD shutout.
Harvard should be satisfied if it can score half that many goals tonight against Silva. The Crimson will look to co-captains Jennifer Botterill (17 g, 11 a) and Francisco (6 g, 15 a) and senior winger Tammy Shewchuk (8 g, 18 a), all of whom are among the nation's top 25 scorers, to produce on offense.
Two wins this weekend would allow the Crimson to remain in first place in the ECAC before breaking for exams. Harvard is currently one-point ahead of Dartmouth and holds a two-point lead over Northeastern and Providence, two of four teams that are tied for third place in the conference.