By Janet Schultz, NYHOL Writer/Photographer
Well the season came to an end with most Championships in women’s hockey being completed just before the cancellation of events due to CoVID 19. In the women’s collegiate hockey scene, only the biggest Championship was canceled…the NCAA Frozen Four.
With that being said, the Schultz’s, your NYHOL staff that covers women’s hockey, had it’s own challenges this season. Randy had cancer surgery in August, back surgery in November and with recuperation they did not make as many collegiate games as they usually did. In fact, for the first time in many years Janet never made it to RIT for their media day or a game and she apologizes. We are hoping things will be better in the Fall and we look forward to the 20-21 season.
While Janet and Randy may not have gotten to the arenas, they did follow the teams and thank the Sports Information people at each College for making sure press releases were sent and the web sites were up-to-date! This is one time when the world wide web kept NYHOL going.
So without further ado, here is a recap of the season, with photos from Janet’s archives!
Cortland
The Red Dragons ended with a 14-10-2 overall season record under Coach Rick Filighera. Their final regular season game was against Buffalo State and ended in a 4-2 loss for Cortland.
They headed off to the NEWHL semis and lost to Plattsburgh, 3-0. Grace Schnorr was named to the NEWHL All Conference Team, as was Chelesa Allain.
Schnorr headed the Red Dragon’s scoreboard with 19 goals/ 13 assists for 32 points. She was followed by Dany Donegan, 10 goals/16 assists. Donegan was named to the NEWHL All-Rookie Team.
Goalie Allain had a .915 save percentage, 2.19 goals against and played 1315.21 minutes between the pipes.
A fond farewell to Seniors Emily Rose (Chaumont/Syracuse Nationals), Abbey Paduano (Massena/Massena High School); Allyson Edwards (Buffalo/Buffalo Regals) and Emily King, captain, (Buffalo/Buffalo Regals).
Elmira
With a 22-4-2 record Elmira was heading to the playoffs following a 5-3 win over Manhattanville. They would have faced Adrian College in the NCAA quarters.
Emma Crocker led the scoring with 21 goals and 23 assists; then it was Morgan Mordini, 11 goals/19 assists and Jess Adams, 20 goals/8 assists.
Crocker was named NCAA DII Statistical Champion for game-winning goals; named to USCHO First Team; First Team CHA/ACHA; First Team All American; UCHC Player of the year and to the UCHC All Tournament Team. She is ranked among the top point getters in the nation.
Parting seniors include Kiana Melvin and Tia Hertto.
Head Coach Tim Crowley, in his fourth season, named Sydney Hasrris, Captain for 2020-21 with assistants Elizabeth Hanson and Eliza Beauden.
Syracuse
Following their last season game against Robert Morris, a 4-2 victory, the Orange headed to the CHA Tournament where they beat #6 seed Lindenwood 4-0 and lost to #2 seed Robert Morris 5-2.
Abbey Moloughney had 10 goals and 18 assists this year followed by Lindsay Eastwood, 8 goals/ 20 assists and Savannah Rennie, 8 goals/15 assists.
Rennie was drafted by the NWHL in the 2020 draft.
Goaltender Allison Small had a 7-12-1 season with 4 shutouts and Ady Cohen had a 7-7-0 record with 2 shutouts.
Graduating seniors include Anonda Harper, Ady Cohen, Allie Olnowich, Logan Hicks, Amanda Backebo, Lindsay Eastwood, Kellie Romswell and Savannah Rennie.
Coach Paul Flanagan is the Orange’s original Coach and is one of the winningest coach in the history of women’s collegiate hockey.
Utica
The Pioneers ended the season with a 2-0 loss to Elmira. Utica was seeded #4 in the UCHC tournament and faced Elmira right off. They lost to the Soaring Eagles 5-1.
Georgiane Santullo had 9 goals/8 assists this season. Olivia Hirschy followed with 4 goals/13 assists and Carolyn Whitney, 9 goals/6 assists. Whitney was named to the UCHC All Rookie Team for 2020.
In Goal it was Brie Reilly with an 8-9-1 record and four shutouts.
Graduating seniors include Brie Reilly, Kyra Borosi, Ricki Haab, Rebecca Brown and Olivia Hirschy.
Coach Dave Clausen is in his tenth season with the Pioneers and was the first and only coach of the UCW.
It was recently announced that Utica and Nazareth women’s ice hockey teams will hold an outdoor game at Griffis Park in Rome (NY) on February 12, 2021.
Colgate
With a 9-0 win over RPI, Colgate’s Women’s Ice Hockey Team headed to the ECAC Tournament. They faced Clarkson University and lost two games in a best of three series.
Sammy Smigliana had 14 goals/19 assists this season with Danielle Serdachny 10 goals/22 assists and Malia Schneider, 12 goals/13 assists.
In Goal it was Liz Auby with an 18-4-6 record and 6 shutouts.
Coach Greg Fargo announced the following team awards:
Danielle Serdachny, Rookie of the Year
Liz Auby, Sportsmanship Award
Noemi Neubauerova, Most Improved
Shelby Wood, Defensive MVP
Danielle Serdachny, Offensive MVP (The Brad Houston Award)
Liz Auby, the Don Palmateer Award
Named to the ECAC All Rookie Team were Sydney Bard, Serdachny and Smigliani.
Oswego
With a 16-7-4 season the Lakers beat Canton 2-1 in their final regular season game.
Heading to the NEWHL Tournament they beat Morrisville 1-0 in the semi-finals and lost to Plattsburgh 6-1 in the finals.
Meghan Teachout (Auburn and in the NYS Girls Varsity Ice Hockey League with Skaneateles) was the team’s top points-getter with 13 goals/16 assists. She was named the 2020 Northeast Women’s Hockey League Rookie of the Year with a plus 7 rating, 4 power play goals, 2 game-winning goals and placed 8th in scoring in the NEWHL.
Teachout, along with teammates Kate Randazzo and Rachael Farmer (Grand Island) were named to the NEWHL Second Team.
Randazzo received the 2020 NEW Scholar/Athlete of the Year Award. She was the first-ever recipient of that award last year.
This year’s graduating class includes Madison Ryrne, Eryn Stewart, Randazzo and Farmer.
Head Coach Diane Dillion has been with the Lakers since 2006.
Steward had 10 goals and 13 assists for second place on the leader board this season. Goalie Farmer had a .914 save percentage with a 15-7-4 record and two shutouts.
Cornell
The Big Red never fail to hit the hockey record book. With a 28-2-3 record they beat Harvard 4-0 in the ECAC Semi-finals but lost to Princeton, 3-2 in the Finals.
The NCAA Tournament where they would have faced Mercyhurst on March 14 was canceled due to the Covid virus.
Amy Curlew was drafted by the NWHL expansion team, Toronto.
Michah Zandee-Hart and Jaime Bourbonnais were named to the Canadian National Team Roster for the 2020 IIHF Women’s Worlds.
Named to the All USCHO Team were Bourbonnais, Zandee-Hart and Lindsay Browning.
Head Coach Dough Derraugh was named USCHO Coach of the Year for 2020 giving him the distinction off having all four league coaching honors including Ivy League, ECAC, CCM/ACHA and USCHO.
Bourbonnais was named to All American USCHO First Team and Browning was named to the USCHO First Team, the first Cornell Goalie to receive those honors.
Graduating seniors include Grace Graham, Michah Zandee-Hart, Jaime Bourbonnais, Paige Lewis, Kristin O’Neill and Amy Curlew.
Hamilton
Hamilton took their 16-9-1 record and headed to the NESCAC Quarterfinals in their home rink. They beat William Smith 4-3 and then in the semis lost to Middlebury 2-1.
Michaela Giuttari was named to the 2019-20 CCM/ACHA DIII Women’s All American Team.
Teammates Alayna Trice, Nancy Loh (Fayetteville), Kelli Mackey, Sidney Molnar (Norfolk NY) were named to the NESCAC All Academic Team.
Trice was awarded the NESCAC All Sportsmanship Honor.
Guittari and Missy Segal were named to the All NESCAC Team.
It’s farewell to Seniors Trice, Giuttari, Timary Malley, Mackey and Sammy Johnson.
Scoring leaders include Guittari with 11 goals/15 assists; Segal with 9 goals/13 assists; Nancy Loh with10 goals/8 assists.
William Smith
William Smith’s 18-9-0 record led them to the UCHC Tournament where they beat Nazareth 3-1 in the semis and then lost 2-1 to Manhattanville in the finals.
Julia Gong was named United College Hockey Conference (UCHC) Rookie of the Year
Gina Scibetta was named to the UCHC First Team and Emily Martini was given an UCHC Honorable Mention.
Scibetta was also named a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) All American.
Julia Mings from Kenmore/Grand Island Girl’s Varsity Ice Hockey was the recipient of the Ice Hockey Coaches Award as the fifth place player in points on 10 goals and 13 assists. She served as alternate captain. With her 79 game collegiate career she has 35 goals and 35 assists placing her third on the College’s All time Goal Scorer and fifth on the Williams All Time Assists list.
Scibetta was presented the Ice Hockey Award for a strong presence, being a fierce competitor and mostinfluencial member of the team.
Top Scorers this season were Scibetta with 16 goals/25 assists; Julianna Gong, 15 goals/19 assists and Jules Olivia Williams in goal with a .917 save percentage.
Seniors include Kate Klimaszewski, Morgan McMinn and Scibetta (Brewerton NY).
Morrisville
The Mustangs lost to Oswego 1-0 in the NEWHL semi-finals after completing a 12-13-1 season record.
Alana McDonald (Potsdam/Potsdam Central) was named to the NEWHL All Rookie Team.
Named to the NEWHL All Conference First Team was Maddison Devlin and to the Second Team, MacKenzie Lombardi.
Lombardi had 15 goals/17 assists and Devlin had 9 goals and 23 assists this season.
Lacey Friesin and Sissy Harman (Eden) were between the pipes with Friesin having a 7-5-0 record and three shutouts and Harman with a 5[-7-1 record.
Congratulations to Seniors Taylor Finnie, Kyle Cameron, Tessa Dobson, Maddison Devlin.