Over the next five games, the Crimson gave up a meager average of one goal for each contest, winning four of those contests decisively. The one hiccup came against Colgate when Boe and the Harvard defensemen gave up three goals and had to rely on a Ruggiero score with just over two minutes left to play.
Now that Weaver is back in the lineup and Pitushka is practicing with the team, Cahow’s play will become a part of the all-around depth that makes Harvard the number one ranked team in the country.
Although her offensive prowess has made past coaches feel as if her natural role should be as a forward, Cahow has always preferred to shut down opponents offenses.
“I have realized with this latest switch to defense how much more comfortable I am with the conceptual aspects of the defensive game,” Cahow said.
Like co-captain Lauren McAuliffe, both Cahow and Weaver’s earlier hockey careers involved playing against boys. Both have still felt a bit of an adjustment in playing collegiate women’s hockey, however.
“My learning curve is huge right now because I get to watch and play with the some of the best defensemen out there as far as I am concerned,” Cahow said.
And then there is Ruggiero—a blueliner who plays so many minutes that St. Lawrence coach Paul Flangan joked about her playing the entirety of Harvard’s overtime victory over the Saints this past Friday night. One cannot deny the important role of having a player like Ruggiero on the team to teach the freshmen the game of collegiate women’s hockey.
“[Ruggiero] is the best defenseman in the world,” Banfield said. “So it’s easy to watch her and then try and imitate what she does, both on and off the ice.”
In a typical game, Ruggiero stays on the ice shift after shift while the other four players switch one at a time. But a number of penalties—she leads the team with 53 this season—has kept her off the ice at key moments during games this season, demanding solid depth behind her for the Crimson to make its run for the national championship.
In the next two weeks, Harvard will travel to play Dartmouth and then face off against Princeton at home, hoping to shut down these two ECAC rivals and avenge its only season losses.
“At defense our goals stay the same,” Cahow said. “Protect our goaltenders, and support our forwards with good break out passes and aggressive play in the offensive zone.”
The Crimson’s prowess on either end of the ice shows on paper—Harvard leads the nation in scoring offense (4.60) and scoring defense (1.24), boasting the highest scoring margin in the league (3.36). This balance has been vital to the success of the team and its rise to No. 1 in the nation.
—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.