During that stretch, co-captain Caitlin Costello—the team’s leading goal-scorer with seven scores this season—hasn’t scored. Neither of the team’s leading scorers from last year, junior Joey Yenne and sophomore Katie Westfall, have come close to matching that scoring output this season. Junior Beth Totman’s numbers are also down from her freshman year when she led the team in scoring.

“We didn’t play well as a team against Hartford, but we’re going to try some new tactics offensively,” Gunther said.

Gunther also expects that the team will use more substitutes than during the regular season. Harvard’s lack of substitutes was particularly evident in its 1-0 overtime loss at UConn on Oct. 24, when the Huskies brought in waves of fresh legs, and Harvard couldn’t sustain any attack outside of the opening minutes of each half.

The second-string forwards played a key role in the Oct. 31 Hartford game. They kept the ball out of the Harvard end for most of the final minutes, and prevented any last-second desperation run by the Hawks.

“The team has been pushing for getting more subs,” Gunther said. “There are a lot of good players on this team who are very good and very hungry. The key is to sub the offense because they’ve been getting really tired.”

The Harvard defenders, meanwhile, will look to rebound from their last performance where they were single-handedly beaten by one player—Penn freshman Katy Cross. They will have to stop two Hawk forwards, sophomore Jeanette Akerlund and American East Rookie of the Year Malin Engman, who have ten goals this season, although their numbers may be inflated by Hartford’s weak conference competition.

The Hawks also feature the American East Player of the Year, Sandra Kayulu. However, Kayulu’s only significant impact in her career against Harvard was her penalty-box hand ball in last year’s NCAA meeting, which led to the Crimson’s second goal.

Harvard is playing in its sixth consecutive NCAA tournament, and Hartford is playing in its fifth.

The team feels it has something to prove after finishing fourth in the league. Each of the past two seasons, the Crimson has beaten tough competition to start the year before fading during the final stretch of the regular season. The team recovered from a similar slump last year, and Gunther believes the Crimson can do it again.

“One of the things we’ve been working on is to have a lot more hunger and a lot more heart—it’s the only thing we’ve been lacking,” Gunther said. “I think you’ll see a whole new team [tonight].”