The 2010-2011 season for the Connecticut College Women’s Ice Hockey team was successful. Their 12-11-2 record was the first winning season since joining the NESCAC, setting a new mark for the team. Despite finishing one game above 0.500, the Camels finished fifth in an extremely competitive conference, which at the end of the season featured three of the top ten teams in the country for Division III. The Lady Camels were eventually knocked out of the post-season in the NESCAC quarter-finals by Bowdoin in a 2-1 loss.
As the season gets rolling this year, more good things look to be on the way. In their opening weekend, the Camels started off the season with a tough match-up, welcoming the Trinity Bantams into Dayton Arena. At the time, Trinity was ranked ninth overall in the country in the USCHO.com poll. In their first game of the weekend series, the Camels suffered a 3-1 loss, despite out shooting Trinity 40 to 15. The next night however, the Camels solved the problem, blowing out the #9 ranked team by a score of 6 to 2. In the third period of that game, the Camels really showed what they were capable offensively, outscoring Trinity 3-0 to seal the victory.
Courtney Dumont '14 (photo from web)
The 2010-2011 season for the Connecticut College Women’s Ice Hockey team was successful. Their 12-11-2 record was the first winning season since joining the NESCAC, setting a new mark for the team. Despite finishing one game above 0.500, the Camels finished fifth in an extremely competitive conference, which at the end of the season featured three of the top ten teams in the country for Division III. The Lady Camels were eventually knocked out of the post-season in the NESCAC quarter-finals by Bowdoin in a 2-1 loss.
As the season gets rolling this year, more good things look to be on the way. In their opening weekend, the Camels started off the season with a tough match-up, welcoming the Trinity Bantams into Dayton Arena. At the time, Trinity was ranked ninth overall in the country in the USCHO.com poll. In their first game of the weekend series, the Camels suffered a 3-1 loss, despite out shooting Trinity 40 to 15. The next night however, the Camels solved the problem, blowing out the #9 ranked team by a score of 6 to 2. In the third period of that game, the Camels really showed what they were capable offensively, outscoring Trinity 3-0 to seal the victory.
There were a lot of positives coming out of the opening weekend, despite going 1-1. Firstly, out of the seven goals scored between the two games, they came from six different players, showing just how much depth this team has offensively. Saturday’s 6-2 victory saw nine different players get on the score sheet. When all four lines are contributing on the score board, the Camels are going to be very tough to beat.
At the back end, the Camels continue to look solid. They are lead by returning net minder, Amy Leichliter, a junior who finished last season with a 2.65 Goals Against Average and a 0.903 save percentage, playing in twenty-five of the Camels’ twenty-six games. Leichliter looks like she will have some help this year as freshman Kelsie Fralick earned a victory in her first collegiate game, stopping twenty-eight of thirty shots giving her a 0.933 save percent.
The Camels show they have good depth at both ends of the ice. Their offense features a relatively young but talented group of forwards, lead by sophomore Courtney Dumont, who led the team last season in scoring as a freshman with eighteen goals and ten assists. She was also named to the All-NESCAC Women’s Ice Hockey Second Team, as well as winning the NESCAC Rookie of the Year award. Dumont looks to continue her success, scoring the lone goal for the Camels in their season opener.
Also playing on the top line last weekend was sophomore Olivia Farrell who, as a freshman, finished second on the team in scoring with 21 points, with sixteen goals and five assists. Farrell opened the season with two assists against Trinity. Finishing out the Camels’ top line is Ariel DiPasquale ’13. Last year, DiPasquale finished third on the team in scoring with five goals and ten assists for a total of fifteen points. After the opening weekend, DiPasquale led the Camels in scoring with two goals, both tallied in the 6-2 victory over Trinity. Dumont, Farrell and DiPasquale proved to be a very dangerous line against Trinity, and should be big contributors all season.
The Camels are dangerous beyond the first line as well. In their first two games, the upperclassmen made a strong showing, with goals from juniors Samantha Schuffenecker and Sam Schoeneberger and seniors Jillian Dolliff and assistant captain Lauren Posillico. On the blue line, the Camels feature only one senior, Katelyn Driscoll, who was also the only member of the D-core to get on the score sheet in the opening weekend after registering an assist. Captain Molly Murphy ’13, who is listed as both a forward and defenseman, also leads the blue line. The Camels have balance both ends of the ice with experience and strong upperclassmen leadership, as well as some talented underclassmen. In addition to the strong sophomore class, this season the Camels have ten freshmen joining the squad, with six on forward, three on defense and one in the net.
Overall, the Camels have talent on paper, and had a very strong showing in their opening weekend. After the 6-2 victory, USCHO.com had the Camels in the hunt for a top 10 spot in the polls. Last Wednesday’s performance against Holy Cross will certainly help their case. Coming into the game, the Crusaders boasted an impressive 9-1-1 record with their only loss coming at the hands of 2010 National Champions, Norwich. Twice the Camels went down in the game, only to battle back by means of a power-play goal. 65 minutes was not enough to decide a winner however, and the Camels were forced to settle for a 2-2 tie. Despite the decision, it was a very impressive showing for the Camels. The team went two for four on the power-play and unlike the games against Hamilton, they performed well with a woman down. Fralick also looked good in net, stopping 25 out of 27 shots.
The NESCAC looks again to be just as tough of a conference as it was last year, and the Camels must build off their success from last year if they want to finish in the top four. Already showing there is no problem creating offense, if the Camels can stand tall on defense and in net, they will be a very tough team to play against night in and night out. •
This is a great, well written article, aside from the one mistake Sterling makes of referring to these fine athletes as the “Lady Camels.” They are just proud Camels, like every other athlete on this campus and the distinction here is insulting — especially given the connotation of the word Lady and the hardcore nature of ice hockey. Besides, Conn was all women once… so shouldn’t they be the original Camels and the men be the “Gentleman Camels” if a distinction is to be made? (I’m not arguing for that at all.)