CORTLAND, N.Y. – After more than a year and a half away from competition, the Cortland women’s ice hockey team returns to the ice on Friday, Oct. 29 with a non-conference game at Alvernia. The Red Dragons are coming off the 2019-20 season in which they posted an overall record of 14-10-2 and earned the fourth seed in the Northeast Women’s Hockey League (NEWHL) playoffs. Cortland returns eight of its top-10 point scorers from two seasons ago.
Individually, graduate student Grace Schnorr (Camillus, NY/Little Caesars)returns for her third year with the program. Schnorr, who earned first team All-NEWHL honors in 2020, has moved into third place in career scoring at Cortland since the program was re-established in the 2000-01 season. After just two seasons on the ice, she’s compiled 56 points on 34 goals and 22 assists. She set program records with 32 points and 19 goals in 2019-20 and her 34 career goals are a program best.
Junior Dany Donegan (Cicero, NY/Syracuse Nationals) was named to the NEWHL All-Rookie Team following the 2019-20 campaign. In her first season with the Red Dragons, Donegan scored 26 points on 10 goals and a team-high 16 assists in 26 games and tied for 11th nationally in point-s-per-game for rookies. Her 26 points are the fourth-most in a single season and the second-highest total for a freshman at Cortland.
Senior Amanda Gaffney (Williamsville, NY/Amherst Knights) enters the 2021-22 season with 34 career points on 16 goals and 18 assists in 53 games. Graduate student Katie DeVoe (Mississauga, ON/Vaughan Flames) has seen the ice in 77 career games, third-most of the returning players, and has recorded 33 points on 13 goals and 20 assists.
Junior Jayden Kelley (East Berne, NY/CP Dynamo) joined the team after finishing the fall with the Red Dragon women’s soccer team. In 17 games, Kelley posted 15 points on nine goals and six assists. Junior Elena Eichmann (Rochester, NY/Syracuse Nationals) skated in all 26 games as a freshman, totaling 15 points on four goals and 11 assists. Other returning forwards this season include senior Lindsay Reyes (2-6-8/Chino Hills, CA/Anaheim Lady Ducks) and Quinn Metcalfe (3-3-6/Churchville, NY/Rochester Monarchs).
Newcomers at forward include senior Emily Kromer (Angola, NY/Nazareth College), sophomores Mikayla Cipullo (Clayton, NY/Cornwall Typhoons), Nicole Tulowiecki (Phoenix, NY/Syracuse Nationals), Irina Brady (Germantown, TN/Nashville Jr. Predators) and freshmen Meggan Cramer (Cicero, NY/Northwood School), Nat O’Brien (Lockport, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) and Mia Hlasnick (Olean, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles). Sophomore Jillian Hlasnick (Olean, NY/Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) and freshman Destiny Bautista (Quesnel, BC/Okanagan Hockey Academy) are listed as both forwards and defensemen.
Six players return on defense this season. Graduate student Olivia Wilburn (Stockton, CA/San Jose Sharks) enters 2021-22 with 20 points on two goals and 18 assists in 78 games played. She tallied one goal and eight assists as a junior. Senior Kirsten MacDowell (Ottsville, PA/New Jersey Rockets) also has skated in 78 games in her career, notching 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists, including four goals during her junior season.
Junior Molly McCabe (Webster/Webster Thomas H.S. Boys) led Cortland’s defensemen in scoring on 2019-20, collecting 12 points on one goal and 11 assists in 26 games. Senior Johna Ezzard (Vienna, VA/Dallas Stars Elite) collected five assists in 26 games as a sophomore and has seen the ice in every game during her first two seasons. Senior Ally Stout (Stockton, CA/SUNY Canton) skated in 20 games in 2019-20, while junior Monica Cahill (Oswego, NY/Lysander Lightning) appeared in seven games, picking up one goal and one assist.
Rounding out the defensive unit are sophomores Lory Plouffe (Blainville, QC/Saint-Laurent Cegep) and Kait Bourgeois (Cobden, ON/Ottawa Thunder) and freshman Gillian Zwolak (Stoney Creek, ON/Ancaster Avalanche).
The Red Dragons feature four goaltenders on the roster. Senior Emily Steen (Windom, MN/Windom H.S.) is the lone returner with game action. In 2019-20, Steen posted a 4-0 record with a 0.76 goals-against average, a .909 save percentage and three shutouts in five games. Sophomore Anna Hamid (Mineola, NY/New Jersey Colonials) was a member of the program last season and is joined by senior Katelyn Kantor (Sherrill, NY/Syracuse Nationals) and freshman Molly Goergen (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie H.S.).
Head coach Rick Filighera enters his sixth year with the program. He was named the NEWHL Coach of the Year following the 2018-19 season and has led the program to 29 victories in the last two seasons of competition.
(Cortland Women’s Hockey Photo)
