Rich ThompsonWed, January 14, 2026 at 2:52 AM UTC·4 min readBOSTON – Harvard goalie Ainsley Tuffy entered Tuesday night’s women’s Beanpot semifinal opener against Boston College with some eye-popping numbers in her seven previous starts.
Tuffy led the nation with a .953 save percentage and ranked eighth with a stellar 1.69 goals against average. The sophomore from Duxbury upped those numbers with 40 saves to backstop the Crimson’s 2-1 victory over the Eagles at Boston University’s Walter Brown Arena.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTuffy recorded a career high 55 saves in the Crimson’s 3-2 overtime victory against No. 5 Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 2.
“Both of them were just great performances,” said Harvard coach Laura Bellamy, who recorded 60 wins and 19 shutouts as the Crimson’s goalie from 2009-to-2013. “The more that is on the line the more she rises and I didn’t expect anything different from her.”
The Crimson improved to 10-8-1 and will compete for the Beanpot Trophy against the winner of the Northeastern/Boston University semifinal on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at the TD Garden.
BC was on a five-game losing streak and the last thing Eagles’ 20-year head coach Katie Crowley needed was a hot goalie between the pipes for Harvard. Crowley thought her squad played one of its finest games of the season, but the Eagles were undone by Tuffy and an immeasurable amount of bad puck luck.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I thought we had more scoring opportunities than we’ve had all year in this game,” said Crowley. “I thought she stood on her head and found a way to make a save.
“Our team has been fighting the scoring game lately, not scoring enough in games and this was another one of them. Some of the point-blank opportunities, the empty nets, the open nets, and the pucks across that bumped over our sticks and the posts and crossbars. I just wish the hockey gods would fall our way just once.”
Harvard went up 2-1 at 8:23 of the third on a splendid individual effort in the offensive zone by defenseman Kaley MacDonald of Walpole. Emily Hamann fed MacDonald, who skated for the half wall through the low slot and fired a wrister that beat BC senior goalie Grace Campbell (32 saves) for her first of the season.
Tuffy endured a grueling final two minutes with BC’s cage empty and a player from each team in the penalty box.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I was super excited because I grew up playing against all these BC kids in high school clubs,” said MacDonald. “I just saw the puck and picked it up and shot it.”
Tuffy was in a hot zone from the onset. The Eagles peppered her cage with six quality shots from all angles of the zone, four of which forced defensive zone faceoffs. Tuffy made her signature save of the first period when she stoned BC freshman right wing sniper Ava Thomas at the near post on a 2-on-1 break at 9:56.
“For warmups I do the same thing every game and I think preparation is the key to that,” said Tuffy. “It is just getting in a groove game to game and building on that.”
Despite their limited access to the BC end, the Crimson scored the opener at 17:50 of the first. First year center Mogan McGathey forced a turnover in the BC end and potted an unassisted backhander from the low slot for her sixth of the season. BC exited the opening frame with a 13-8 advantage in shots on goal.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Eagles’ scoring drought ended on their 17th shot when Thomas tried the game 1-1 at 6:59 of the second. Redshirt senior center Emma Connor, a Minnesota transfer, forced an turnover that set up Thomas for his team high 13th of the campaign.
Thomas had a clean breakaway with 30 seconds remaining but her shorthanded bid was denied by Tuffy. Harvard outshot BC 14-12 in the middle frame.
“She (Thomas) is a great player, I’ve watched her for a long time,” said Bellamy. “It feels like every time she is out there, she creates and I thought that line was very good tonight and tough to defend.”
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