Women's Hockey poised for season opener
New England College women’s ice hockey finished their 2008-09 season with an overall record of 11-13-2 an ECAC East record of 8-9-2. The Pilgrims earned their seventh consecutive trip to the ECAC East Playoffs but fell to University of Southern Maine in the quarterfinals.
The Pilgrims will have huge shoes to fill this season on both offense and defensive as they lost two seniors to graduation. At forward the Pilgrims will have to fill the void left by Sarah Tracey. Tracey led the team in scoring last year finishing with 22 points, including eight goals and a team-high 14 assists. On the defensive side of the puck the Pilgrims will miss Emily Tanguay. Tanguay was instrumental in the Pilgrim defense and also contributed on offense leading all defensive players in scoring a year ago with three goals and nine assists.
The Pilgrims will return a trio of sophomores on offense this season. Chelsea Torrico (Mt. Washington, Mass.) will look to pick up where she left off a season ago, finishing second on the team in scoring with a team-high 10 goals and seven assists. Also returning at forward will be sophomores Taryn Moffat (Montrose, B.C.) and Kaleigh Costello (Hudson, N.H.) Moffat finished last season with a goal and seven assists, while Costello scored four goals and dished out three assists. Rounding out the forward position will be assistant captains Rachel White and Jessica Donnelly. Junior Rachel White (Arlington, Mass.) played in all 24 games last season and netted two goals and had eight assists. Senior Jessica Donnelly (Casa Grande, Ariz.) had four goals and five assists a season ago.
Leading the Pilgrim defense will be senior captain Danielle Taylor. Taylor (Raynham, Mass.) played in all 26 games for the Pilgrims last year. Also returning on defense will be junior Emily Kuchta (Norwalk, Conn.), sophomore Alicia Michonski (Southwick, Mass.) and sophomore Amanda Grenier (Malden, Mass.)
Anchoring the Pilgrims defense will be returning goalie Teraysa White. White (Belgrade, Maine) earned ECAC East Second Team All-Conference and ECAC East All –Rookie honors for her performance last season. She finished the season with a .933 save percentage, 798 total saves and four shutouts.
The Pilgrims will have some new faces on the ice as head coach Sis Paulsen will look to first-year forwards Kate Kellar (Pittsfield, Mass.), Stephanie Spera (Stoughton, Mass.) and Katie Palsz (Granby, Mass.) to pick up the offense attack. First-year players Chelsie Boroski (Sterling Heights, Mich.), Alyssa Hoot (Waterville, Ohio) and Samantha Hippern (Dover, N.H.) will look to make an immediate impact at the defensive position.
