Oct. 3: The St. Lawrence women's hockey team officially opens its 2014-15 regular season schedule with a home-and-home series against defending national champion and Route 11 rival, No. 7/8 Clarkson, on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4.

Tonight's non-conference matchup with the Golden Knights in Appleton Arena is the first of four meetings between the rivals this season, and the first of five October home games for St. Lawrence. The team will play host to No. 3 Boston College for a two-game set next weekend on Oct. 10 and 11 and Robert Morris the following weekend on Oct. 17 and 18.

"As always we are looking forward to another very competitive year," Head Coach Chris Wells said. "We have loaded up our schedule to go along with all of our ECAC league games and the October schedule always challenges our team. Clarkson is a great way to start the season off each year, and our trip to Minnesota is going to be a wonderful experience for our entire team."

The Saints will face Minnesota State-Mankato and national runner-up Minnesota during after the first of the year, as well as Mercyhurst  in the second half to finish this season's non-conference lineup.

Without its top two leading scorers from last season in record-setting defensemen Mel Desrochers and forward Rylee Smith, the Saints will look to veterans and newcomers alike to provide an offensive spark in the early goings this season.
Sophomore Brooke Webster is the Saints top returning scorer after putting up 23 points on eight goals and 15 assists during her rookie campaign.

"There are plenty of new faces, along with an old new face that should make a big impact for us this season," Wells added. The old new face is that of senior defensemen Amanda Boulier who returns to the blue line for the Saints this season after having missed the entire 2013-14 campaign while recovering from injury. Late in September, Boulier was selected as the team captain this season, while fellow seniors Jessica Hon, Kayla Raniwsky and Ellie Williams will serve as assistants.

In total there are 16 returners from last season who are joined by five newcomers – four first-years (Brooke Wolejko, Sophia Millerick, Kennedy Marchment and Amanda McClure) and a junior transfer from the University of New Hampshire in Megan Armstrong.  

As defensemen, Millerick, McClure and Armstrong will all look to fill the gaps on the blue line that were left following the departure of Desrochers and classmates Dayle Wilkinson and Bailey Habscheid. Marchment is expected to provide an immediate impact on offense this season, while Wolejko joins the Saints goaltending corps of Carmen MacDonald, Giulia Mazzocchi and Mikaela Thompson.

Despite a veteran-heavy roster, Coach Well says the team has done well to come together during the weeks leading up to the season, which he attributes to the recruiting of Associate Head Coach Ted Wisner.

"He's done another fantastic job," Wells said. "Each year it gets more and more competitive and he adjusts to the changes to get the right people for St. Lawrence."

Assistant coach and team strength and conditioning coordinator Mare MacDougall Bari "has used the summer and first part of the season to make sure our student-athletes are in the best possible shape to compete and play well through the first part of the season," he added.

The returning players for St. Lawrence, by position, are:

At defense: Amanda Boulier, Dominique Korakianitis, Victoria Leimgardt and Kirsten Padalis

At forward: Jenna Marks, Alex Moore, Abbey McRae, Jessica Hon, Sydney Bell, Kayla Raniwsky, Jacqueline Wand, Kailee Heidersbach, Ellie Williams and Brooke Webster

In goal: Giulia Mazzocchi, Carmen MacDonald and Mikaela Thompson