Co-captain Jillian Dempsey was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection after leading the Crimson with 24 goals.

Men’s basketball is not the only Harvard squad going dancing this week.

The No. 5 Crimson women’s hockey team will also be participating in the NCAA Tournament—albeit a much smaller one—beginning Saturday when it travels locally to face No. 4 Boston College at Kelley Rink.

With only eight teams in the bracket, a win would give Harvard its first Frozen Four birth since 2008.

Harvard (24-6-3) is coming off a heartbreaking 2-1 loss at No. 2 Cornell in the ECAC Championship Game last weekend, when a late slashing penalty on senior defenseman Sarah Edney gave the Big Red a power play opportunity, which it took advantage of by tallying the game-winning goal with 1:40 to go.

“That one stung,” co-captain Jillian Dempsey said. “But it is amazing to know that we have another chance to make a go at things.”

Indeed the Crimson does, as Harvard earned an at-large berth to its first tournament since 2010 following a season in which it reached as high as No. 2 in the country.

If Harvard is going to be successful in that tournament, it will need freshman goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer to stay hot.

After recording two shutouts in four games, the rookie was named the ECAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player. During the regular season, she ranked third in the country in goals against average; no other freshman ranked in the top twenty.

Though Maschmeyer spent most of that time platooning in net with co-captain Laura Bellamy—who ranks second in the nation in saves and goals against average—the rookie appears to have earned the postseason starting job.

“[Maschmeyer’s] been incredible for us all year,” co-captain Jillian Dempsey said. “We set the bar really high and she has done more than we asked of her.”

The freshman made a career-high 34 saves in the teams’ last meeting on Feb. 5, in the first round of the Beanpot.  But she surrendered a pair of goals in the final 12:38 to allow Boston College to rally back from a third-period deficit to top the Crimson, 2-1.

On Saturday, the Harvard offense will likely need to score more than once to take down the Eagles, who rank second in the country with 4.40 goals per game.

Harvard’s defense, which ranks second in the nation in its own right, has often been up to the task this year and has allowed just 1.15 goals per contest.

Edney received first-team All-Ivy honors last weekend, while fellow defenseman Michelle Picard was named an honorable mention.

Those two will be among the group helping Maschmeyer try to fend off the Boston College attack, which is led by sophomore forward Alex Carpenter, whose 68 points on 37 goals and 31 assists placed her fifth in the country this year.