“I like being picked second,” she said. “There can often be a curse to being picked at the top. And it’s important how we climb to the top, not if we start there.”

Stone’s squad was runner-up in the NCAA Tournament, losing 4-3 in double overtime to Minnesota-Duluth in what ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco hailed as “the best women’s hockey game, maybe the best hockey game ever.”

Despite losing leading scorer and Patty Kazmaier award winner Jennifer Botterill, Harvard returns many talented players, including sophomore forward Julie Chu and senior defenseman Angela Ruggiero, both of whom were selected for the preseason all-conference team.

Chu and Ruggiero were second and third on the Crimson in points a year ago, and both will be essential in the team’s success if it hopes, as Stone maintains, to climb to the top of the ECAC.

“Angela Ruggiero and Julie Chu are exceptional players,” Stone said. “We’re doing to need them to really establish themselves; they both have a lot of ability.”

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.