Riding on last year’s finish tied atop the ECAC and ranked among the top teams in the nation this season, the Harvard women’s hockey team is favored both by momentum and expert opinion.

But past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results, and the Crimson will look to prove good on those preseason predictions when it opens its season this weekend when it takes on Colgate and Cornell.

Harvard has been effectively untested this fall, having played only a scrimmage against Dartmouth so far, but it is well-known that it will be playing with a stacked deck.

The Crimson finished last season with a record of 30-4-1 (15-3-0 ECAC) to tie for first in the conference with St. Lawrence. It enters the 2004-05 season ranked second in the preseason ECAC coaches’ poll behind Dartmouth and third in Division I in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s College Hockey Poll.

Subject to high expectations, Harvard has momentum on its side.

“The tradition is there,” Harvard coach Katey Stone said. “We won last season, and we need to pick up where we left off.”

The team seeks to assuage the loss of three players from last year with the addition of six more.

Among the Crimson’s returning players is forward and junior co-captain Julie Chu. Last year Chu was second in the nation in assists, became Harvard’s seventh-highest scorer and was named to the All-Ivy and All-ECAC teams.

“Julie’s an impact player,” Stone said. “If she’s doing what she needs to do, things are going to work well.”

But the Crimson will need to display a well-rounded attack, and Stone emphasized the team’s need for consistency.

“We’ve got to be doing the little things well,” Stone said. “We need to play good solid defense and get to the goaltender.”

COLGATE

Meanwhile, Colgate comes into the season facing quite different expectations than Harvard.

The Raiders finished last season with a 16-17-3 record and entered this season facing low expectations, ranked seventh in the ECAC Coaches’ Poll.

“If we can take advantage of the fact that we’ve now played five games, if we come out with energy and enthusiasm, you never know what’s going to happen,” Colgate coach Scott Wiley said.