PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

After the holiday break, Harvard coach Katey Stone introduced “Harvard boot camp,” in her own words, to get the team back on the right track after losing five of six.

Practices focused on improving team conditioning and speed.

“The main thing is that we worked so much harder in practice than we did before break,” captain Kat Sweet said. “Actual practices themselves were structured so much harder, so we are just in better skating shape.”

Stone also aimed to improve the team’s early-game energy level.

At the beginning of the season, the Crimson showed an inability to jump to consistent early leads. In its last three games, on the other hand, it has scored five first-period goals, including one in the first 14 seconds of Saturday’s matchup against Colgate.

“One thing we realized [was that] no matter how hard we worked, we weren’t going to die,” Corriero said. “The coaches really pushed us. Because of our really intense game schedule in November and December, it was tough for them to do that before. Now was a great opportunity for them to push us and see how far we could go.”

“We’ve worked really hard to get to the point where we can take these opponents,” junior Carrie Schroyer added.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.