Ainsley Tuffy leads Harvard to its 16th Women's Beanpot victory after a penalty shot in overtime.
Ainsley Tuffy was not to be underestimated going into the 47th Women’s Beanpot. The sophomore put on a goaltending showcase all tournament, first gathering 40 saves against Boston College in the semi-finals and capping it off with 46 saves in the final.
“Lights are bright. We knew she'd bring it,” Harvard head coach Laura Bellamy said. “Without her, I don't think we're sitting up here. So just a great performance.”
Tuffy took home both the Bertagna award for the tournament’s best goaltender and the Beanpot MVP award.
“You’ve just got to like lock in on the first couple and then just build off of every shot. And you can't think too much,” Tuffy said of her performance.
With a goaltender like Tuffy, Boston University’s presence by the net and shots on goal that outpaced the Crimson 47 to 16, just weren't enough.
Harvard opened the scoring after junior forward Gwyn Lapp notched her first of the season to junior goaltender Mari Pieterson’s right side, just 1:34 into the first period. Senior defender Maeve Carey answered on the power play with an assist that landed straight on junior forward Greta Henderson’s stick. Henderson knocked it in for a tie game at 10:27.
BU doubled Harvard’s shots on goal 13 to 6 at the end of the first period, both generating two penalties. The game was especially chippy, with Harvard racking up four penalties in just the second period. Post-game, Boston University head coach Tara Watchorn noted a significant amount of play from special teams as a trouble area. The Terriers hold just a .059 power-play percentage.
“You get tired. Obviously your top 10 players there that are on your power play are getting a lot of minutes,” she said. “The other ones are on the bench and how do you manage what that feels like and looks like?”
The teams had previously met at the Belpot Friendship Series in Belfast, Ireland Jan. 3, where Boston University won 3-2.
“We just talked about if we had that opportunity, this is the one we want, to win the Beanpot. So kind of storybook for us to get a little bit of revenge,” Bellamy said of facing off against the same team they lost the Belpot to.
The stats were not in Harvard’s favor, and the team was keeping possession for split seconds when they had it. At one point, the puck slipped between Tuffy’s legs while in the crease, only to be just barely swept away by a defender, but Harvard somehow held on.
The Terriers were hitting a brick wall as they tried to find the net for a second time, and were slowly wearing down going into the third period. The Crimson took just six shots in the second period to the Terriers’ 18, and two in the third period to the Terriers’ 15.
Still tied at 1-1 after 60 minutes, the teams went into overtime, but faced the unexpected. Just 1:17 minutes in, BU’s sophomore defender Keira Healey was called for tripping. Given the option between a 4 vs. 3 power play and a penalty shot, freshman forward Carla McSweeney chose to take the shot.
It was all Harvard needed to seal the deal. McSweeney shot to her left, past Pieterson, winning Harvard its 16th Beanpot Championship, and first since 2022.
“I came in on the left side. I like to cut over just to see. And I was coming in, didn't really see like a deep option. So decided to take my shot,” McSweeney said of the goal. "...Pure joy. That's a huge moment, but more importantly, just to celebrate that with my teammates was unbelievable."
After knocking Northeastern out in the semi-finals, the Terriers were vying for their third Beanpot Championship to recover from a rocky 7-13-3 season. While the team has played in every Beanpot Championship game at TD Garden, it has yet to take home a win on Garden ice.
“In preparation for this game, myself and our staff team planned for a lot of moments. I didn't think through what a penalty shot in overtime was going to look like. So apologies if you can bear with me while I process that thought,” Watchorn said. “I wish we didn't put ourselves in that situation considering that.”
Despite high hopes for a women’s hockey attendance record, the 10,175 attendees fell short of last year’s attendance that set the record for women’s hockey in New England, at 13,279 fans. Harvard classes start Jan. 25, and BU’s classes started Jan. 20, which perhaps led to fewer student fans than the previous year.
Given that games tend to host around 300 fans in the collegiate women’s regular season, the thousands of fans present was still an achievement for the sport.
“Just watching the game grow is unbelievable. From being a little kid, having to play boys hockey. And now I can go out and play at a high level with the girls,” Tuffy said. “And just seeing that every coach, every player, every person behind the scenes putting in that work and making women's hockey grow is unbelievable.
Northeastern and Boston College had kicked off the tournament’s TD Garden run that afternoon with a 3-1 win for the Huskies. Northeastern dominated in shots 57 to 29, with Boston College goaltender Grace Campbell making a season-high 54 saves to keep the Eagles in the game. Junior forward Sammy Taber made both of the Eagles’s two goals, while sophomore Eloise Caron, captain and senior Lily Shannon and freshman Stryker Zablocki each took one for the Huskies.