The Crimson defense maintains some continuity with the return of juniors Pamela Van Reesema and Jamie Hagerman. Both players transition from being the youngest members of the defense to the most experienced.
The Harvard team is emphasizing teamwork, especially on the defense end, with all the changes in the lineup.
“It’s not necessarily the two defensemen in at the time, it’s all five of us who have to work together, especially now that we have such a different team,” Hagerman said. “It’s going to be more of everyone in every zone working together more so this year than ever before.”
Though both Hagerman (3-17—20) and Van Reesema (2-14—16) contributed to the offense last year, their attacks on net may be tempered this year by the numbers of minutes they expect to log.
“If we have open ice, we’re going to take it,” Hagerman said. “But we’re not going to force it because we’re going to play a lot of minutes and see a lot of ice time.”
Along with Haige, Ashley Banfield and Louise Chim look to make contributions to the defense in their rookie campaigns.
“We’re really hoping that we’re going to have some new people emerge as leaders,” Hagerman said. “We have great leaders in this year’s senior and junior classes, but we’re really hoping for the freshmen to take it upon themselves to make their own places on the team.”
Harvard benefits from having all three goalkeepers from last season return to action this year. Last year’s main starter, sophomore Jessica Ruddock, earned Honorable Mention All-Ivy League honors for her rookie season. Ruddock played in 25 games and posted a 2.19 GAA.
“[Ruddock is] going to have to play a huge role this year because we don’t have a lot of defensemen,” Hagerman said. “She’s going to have to be someone we can count on everyday, and she knows that she’ll see 30, 40, 50 shots a game.”
Vying for playing time will be senior Alison Kuusisto, who played in 10 games with a 2.48 GAA, and sophomore Emily Smith, who saw limited action last season.
Stone has yet to determine who the regular starting goalie will be this season, if there is one.
“Alison Kuusisto has gotten much stronger this year in the offseason,” Stone said. “It’s very obvious how hard she’s worked. And Emily Smith has gotten a lot better as well. It’s nice to have that problem to figure out who’s going to play in the net.”
With the short squad that Harvard features, the veterans on the team knew that physical fitness was a priority. The returning players came back from the lay-off in excellent condition, earning the praise of their coach.
“The physical conditioning with which our returning players came back was outstanding,” Stone said. “It’s a nice example to be set right from the beginning by the veterans.”
The Harvard schedule began with games at Cornell and Colgate this weekend. The home opener is this Friday against Vermont. All three enter the season ranked below Harvard in the nine-team Northern Division at Nos. 8, 6, and 9, respectively.
The Crimson faces much tougher opposition in its upcoming games, including match-ups against the two highest ranked teams in the country, powerhouses No. 2 Dartmouth and No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, on consecutive weekends in November.
Dartmouth enters the season as the preseason favorite to win the ECAC Northern Region. Minn.-Duluth is the defending NCAA champion and is favored to repeat as national champions with all of its European national team players back to start the season.
“Our first games were against lower ranked teams, so we have a chance to experiment and get to know each other better,” Ingram said. “Then we have five really tough games in a row. We’re going to really be tested and I’m looking forward to it.”
The learning curve for the youth of the team will be a significant factor for Harvard to challenge the top competition. The rookies will have an immediate impact on the team, and all players will have the opportunity to emerge as key contributors.
“We’re not going to start out the season where we’ll finish,” Hagerman said. “And every day is one more building block to being the best in the end.”