ECAC Roundup: Oct. 17-22, 2024

We are back with a full slate of games for the first time this season, people – the Ivies have woken up, and teams have gotten off to a ripping start this week in our roundup. This week, we're focusing on one particularly interesting result out of Harvard, plus a look at what's to come.

Harvard Starting Out in the Win Column

What a way for a rebuilding Crimson squad to start its 2024-25 campaign – by upsetting a top-1o opponent in dramatic fashion, on the back of a stellar performance by their goaltender. Junior Emily Davidson made 34 saves to earn her first career shutout, 1-0, in front of a home crowd at Bright-Landry Hockey Center over No. 8-ranked UConn.

It was a hard-fought win, as the Crimson were outshot in all three periods (though the third period contained the closest margin at 11-10 Huskies) and their skaters blocked a total of 21 shots throughout the game. UConn came out blazing, testing Davidson early on, but she made a series of incredible saves to keep the game scoreless for nearly 41 minutes of play.

Then, less than a minute into the third period, captain Jenna MacDonald snapped the stalemate with a shot from the point just after a Harvard power play expired, giving the Crimson the lead and all the confidence they needed to start pushing against the Huskies' rush.

From there, it was a marked difference in play, with Harvard shutting the door against the Huskies' offense and Megan Warrener having to make far more saves in the final 20 minutes. Junior center Gwyn Lapp was a remarkable 66 percent in the faceoff circle and added three shots to boot, and a number of Crimson players gave up the body to preserve the shutout.

This is super exciting to see from a team like Harvard's, which has obviously been trying to get back on track after the very necessary cleaning of house a couple of seasons ago. This is Laura Bellamy's second career win against a top-1o opponent, and while we can't know for sure if this kind of play will stick, it's fun to see games like this, especially with the kind of performance we just saw from Davidson.

Scores

Some huge results in not just for the Ivies, but for the conference as a whole. Colgate routed another non-conference opponent in Post, while Princeton destroyed RMU and the Saints split a wild weekend with the Catamounts. For more info, click here.

Thursday, 10/17/24:

Rensselaer 3, RIT 3

Post 1, Colgate 6

Friday, 10/18/24:

Post 1, Colgate 8

St. Lawrence 0, Vermont 1

Syracuse 0, Quinnipiac 4

Rensselaer 0, RIT 2

Franklin Pierce 1, Brown 8

Union 1, UNH 2

Cornell 0, Mercyhurst 0

Dartmouth 0, Penn State 2

Princeton 7, RMU 1

Saturday, 10/19/24:

Cornell 1, Mercyhurst 2

Dartmouth 1, Penn State 4

St. Lawrence 5, Vermont 0

Syracuse 1, Quinnipiac 4

Princeton 11, RMU 1

Union 0, UNH 1

Brown 6, Franklin Pierce 2

Tuesday, 10/22/24:

Saint Anselm 0, Yale 9

Weekly Awards

Forward of the Week

Maya Labad, Quinnipiac

The senior forward has had a banner year thus far, on pace for one goal per game and having earned her first career hat trick against Syracuse on Saturday (a natural hat trick at that).

Defender of the Week

Cameron Sikich, Brown

Another senior, Sikich came up big on the offensive side for her squad in their thorough take-down of Franklin Pierce. Five points in two games? I'd say that's significant.

Goaltender of the Week

Emily Davidson, Harvard

Is this a surprise? I mean, she was downright revelatory for the Crimson, withstanding a hungry Huskies squad to earn not just a win, but a very well-deserved shutout. Also, her excitement and humilty afterward was just adorable to watch:

Rookie of the Week

Angelina DiGirolamo, Princeton

The Tigers went on a rampage during opening weekend, completely routing the Colonials, and DiGirolamo started off on the right foot with a whopping five points (including two goals and two assists in their win on Saturday).

What's Up Next?

Cornell is actually heading for a neutral site game in Columbus against a hot Nittany Lions squad Friday, then playing one of Ohio State or Stonehill Saturday. St. Lawrence travels to face RIT, while Colgate hosts Maine in non-conference play. Other than that, we're starting to get into ECAC play in earnest, with some interesting matchups between Princeton and the other two big winners of last week (Brown and Yale) in the mix.

For a full list of games and how to watch, click here.