Poor shooting on the part of its opponents has made the Crimson’s defensive success more attainable so far. Holy Cross and Bryant took a combined 25 shots, of which only nine were on goal. The two teams converted on a third of its on-target opportunities.
Vermont has fared better than Harvard’s competition, scoring seven times on 26 shots. Maine also has seven goals in its four games, though it has taken the team 47 shots to do so. But its opponents have been even worse—to reach the seven goal mark, the Black Bears’ competition needed 65 shots.
“What we worked on [Tuesday] at practice was a lot of our circle defense,” Tassopoulos said. “We already know that Maine has an aggressive style of play, so we’re trying to transition that into our practices.”
But McGillivray commented that scouting won’t affect how the Crimson practices or plays this weekend.
“We do a bit of scouting on both of the teams, but we’re looking to go into the weekend and play our own game and not let the other team affect what our strategy is too much,” she said.
—Staff writer E. Benjamin Samuels can be reached at samuels@college.harvard.edu.