Sitting on Defense

Who says that losing key players automatically means a team has to get worse?

The defense of the Harvard women’s ice hockey team certainly doesn’t think so. After losing anchor Ashley Banfield to graduation and then rising star Caitlin Cahow for this season in a surprise move to the U.S. National Team, the Crimson is left with only three returning defenders.

But rather than being daunted by this setback, the team prefers to look at the upcoming season in a new light.

“We’re not looking at it in terms of what we lost,” junior defenseman Lindsay Weaver said. “It’s a new year and anything can happen. We’re just ready to work hard.”

With three freshmen joining the defensive corps this year, they will be challenged to learn to work together in order to dominate as last year’s defense did.

They may run into difficulties trying to match that standard: in 2004-2005, the Harvard defense allowed 68 goals all season, with only 27 coming in league play.

With such a young team on the ice this year, the biggest factor may be its lack of experience. Some of the freshmen are beginning to realize that the transition from high school to college hockey can be a difficult one to tackle.

“It’s a huge adjustment,” freshman Kati Vaughn said. “I think we just need to be open to learning from our teammates and our coaches. It’s just a matter of adjusting to the speed of the game, especially since [college] girls are a lot stronger.”

An added fear was that with three shorter veterans—Weaver, and sophomores Jessica Mackenzie and Brenna McLean stand at 5’4, 5’3, and 5’6 respectively—the team would find itself in a height deficit. However, with the addition of two 5’10 freshman recruits in Vaughn and fellow first-year Lauren Herrington, Harvard coach Katey Stone expects to turn that deficit into an advantage.

“To have two big defensemen like that hopefully is a strong presence in the defensive end,” Stone said.

These newcomers, plus hard work and aggression, seem to be the consensus on how the defense will push forward in the coming season.

In a 4-3 victory over Dartmouth in an Oct. 18 scrimmage, the team found that these traits gave the defense an edge.

“I think physically we were in better shape than they were,” Vaughn said. “We also have a very smart team on the ice: We know when to jump in the play and when to hang back and save ourselves. We have a way of seeing the ice that I think other teams don’t have.”

With much speculation over whether Harvard will be able to overcome such big obstacles, the team is staying focused on re-establishing itself as a national title contender.

“We lost a lot last year, so a lot of people aren’t expecting us to be as much of a threat,” Mackenzie said. “I think we are a hard-working team and have a lot of talent, so we want to prove ourselves. We’re still setting our sights high.”

The defense’s biggest strength lies in its two returning goalies, senior Ali Boe and junior Emily Vitt, who have competed for the starting position in each of the last two seasons.

Boe made a name for herself a year ago, posting an impressive .911 save percentage and finishing sixth in the nation with a 1.86 goals against average.

Freshman goalie Brittany Martin will also add a spark to the maturing defense.

“We’re going to rely a lot on goaltending, and fortunately we have good goaltending,” Stone said. “So we’re going to start there and work our way up. Take care of our own zone first, play really good defense I hope, and keep everything simple.”