BOSTON -- In the most improbable fashion, Harvard reached the top of the Women’s Beanpot mountain again on Tuesday night.
Freshman Carla McSweeney’s penalty shot at 1:17 of overtime lifted the Crimson to a 2-1 win over Boston University, good for their 16th-ever Beanpot title and first in the tournament’s three-year history at TD Garden.
“What an incredible game,” said Harvard coach Laura Bellamy. “We just seem to find a way. We talk about that all the time. I think our team has guts, and you saw it tonight. Just a resilient effort from our group.”
Who would have thought it would be Harvard becoming the first Beanpot champion other than Northeastern since 2022?
Despite taking a 1-0 lead on former Phillips Andover star Gwyn Lapp’s (Andover, Mass.) first goal of the season just 1:34 into the first period, it felt like the Crimson had to play uphill for much of the night as they were outshot 47-16 and needed a 6-for-7 penalty kill performance.
It would not have been without Harvard’s local hero in sophomore netminder Ainsley Tuffy (Duxbury, Mass.), who made a career-high 46 saves. With 86 stops across two Beanpot games, she won MVP and Bertagna Award honors.
“That was a performance maybe unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Bellamy said of Tuffy, who prepped at Shattuck-St. Mary’s. “A lot of huge performances from Ainsley this year. Our goaltending has been really good and helped us move forward. Just so reliable. Lights are bright, we knew she’d bring it.”
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Of course, it was a Tuffy save and a caused turnover that sent McSweeney — who has already gained the nickname “McClutch” for her three game-winners this season — in on the penalty shot-drawing breakaway.
THE CRIM IS BACK ON TOP OF BOSTON 🚨#GoCrimson x #OneCrimson pic.twitter.com/yVUngrsoby
— Harvard Women's Hockey (@HarvardWHockey) January 21, 2026
On the ensuing shot, she cut slightly to the left and then down the slot to beat BU’s Mari Pietersen high on the glove side, clinching the game and the championship.
“I really try not to pre-plan. You just sort of have to take what’s given,” McSweeney said. “I took a deep breath and just went for it.”
After Tuffy was counted on to make three early saves in the first period, Lapp broke the ice. With linemate Emily Hamann’s (Marlborough, Mass.) feed from behind the net sitting loose in the crease, Lapp crashed the net and banged the puck inside the left post.
The game’s first power play helped the Terriers level the score at 10:27, as St. Cloud State transfer Greta Henderson deflected Maeve Kelly’s point shot past Tuffy through traffic.
Tuffy did well to hold the 1-1 deadlock, though, helping Harvard — which entered the game as one of the least penalized teams in the country — fend off four consecutive second-period penalties.
“As a goalie, you can save the puck and keep it out of the net, but it’s also kind of a mental game to the other team,” said Tuffy, who has a .952 save percentage this season.
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After stopping Sydney Healey’s shorthanded break-in midway through the first, Tuffy was equal to the task on all 18 shots she faced in the middle frame.
The sophomore made multiple point-blank saves on Clara Yuhn during the Terriers’ first man advantage of the period before flashing her glove on a Henderson turnaround shot and padding away a Luisa Welcke one-timer from the top of the circle in the final five minutes.
Glove stop 🛑#GoCrimson x #OneCrimson pic.twitter.com/zHvddm19yM
— Harvard Women's Hockey (@HarvardWHockey) January 21, 2026
“We knew we were going against a good goalie who’s tough to score on,” said BU coach Tara Watchorn, whose team has lost three straight title games. “She showed us exactly what we expected, for sure. We’ve talked a lot about how to generate quality looks. I don’t think you anticipate that many power plays in the game, but I think we could have been better.”
In the opening minutes of the third, Riley Walsh (Duxbury, Mass.) had another high-quality shorthanded chance saved before the Harvard defense cleared the loose puck out of Tuffy’s crease.
Tuffy denied BU top-line center Kaileigh Quigg’s open shot from the right circle with about nine minutes left. Another key stop came on a charging Henderson’s wrister with 3:30 to go.
In large part due to Tuffy’s heroics, the game reached overtime, and the Crimson ultimately got back into the winner’s circle.
After going 2-25-2 last season, it has been quite the quick climb. Now 11-10-1, Harvard has two ranked wins and two wins against Hockey East teams on its resume ahead of the ECAC playoff push.
“We’ve had big goals to take big steps forward this year,” Bellamy said. “This was circled from day one. We wanted to put a 16th Beanpot up on our wall. Just so proud of our team. We felt like it started from the net out.”
Of course, this one means so much more.
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“Just watching the game grow is unbelievable — from growing up having to play boys hockey and now going out and playing at this high level,” Tuffy said.
“We play to win the Beanpot, but you could see hundreds of little girls watching, seeing that this is an option for them,” McSweeney said. “That’s a huge part of what we’re doing also.”
