The ninth-ranked St. Lawrence University women's hockey team is set to open the 2025-26 season on Friday, September 19, with an exhibition game at No. 5 Colgate; opening faceoff is slated for 6 p.m. 

Coming off their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and a successful 50th-year celebration last season, the Saints are led by head coach Chris Wells, who was a finalist for the ECAC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and enters his 18th season with the Scarlet and Brown.

This year's squad will be captained by Kiley Mastel (C), Kennedy Wilson (C), Abby Hehl (A) and Emma-Sofie Nordström (A).

Mastel tallied two goals and two assists last season, while also adding 24 blocked shots.

Wilson scored nine goals and added eight assists for 17 points. She finished with two power play goals, four game-winning goals and 26 blocked shots.

As a sophomore, Hehl closed the season with six goals and four assists for 10 points and blocked 25 shots.

Nordström was the anchor between the pipes, as she started 36 games for the Saints, while making 889 saves, good for a .934 save percentage and a 1.77 goals against average. She earned Third-Team All-ECAC Hockey honors, was a three-time MAC Goaltending Goalie of the Week and was a semifinalist for the Hockey Commissioners Association Goalie of the Year award. She played for Team Denmark in goal, taking place in the final round of the Olympic Qualifying games.

The Saints graduated a large class full of graduate students and seniors last season, including PWHL draft picks Abby Hustler and Anna Segedi, so this year's roster looks a bit different as it features one graduate student, three seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and nine first-years.

Graduate student Alexa Davis joins the Saints after a four-year career at Cornell University, while junior Riley Reeves transferred to St. Lawrence from Bemidji State University. Kennedy Emerson, Kassidy Lawrence and Hehl hold down the junior class for the Saints.

Back on the ice as sophomores are Mave O'Hagan, Alexia Côté, Halle Mules, Sami Phelan and MacKenzie Clarke while the nine newcomers joining the ranks include – Rylan Haslam, Ella Nancarrow, Cheyenne Degeer, Lilien Benakova, Taeyeon Kim, Hayden Summers, Hanna Olson, Meghan Crowley and Brooke Mulvihill.

"It has been a very hard-working group the first few weeks of practice and we are all looking forward to playing some games now," said Wells. "We will learn quickly as to where we are with our first two weekends vs. top-8 teams."

"Our 2025-26 team will have a good opportunity to get acquainted early with our first three weekends in the road. It is always fun watching teams start to come together and find their personality and identity. Games usually move the process along quicker and allow players and teams to get some direction!"

Following the exhibition game this Friday, St. Lawrence will spend the majority of the fall semester on the road, as they travel for two non-conference road trips to Penn State and Mercyhurst, before returning home for their season opener against UVM on October 10-11.

The Saints will then play a Thursday-Friday series against the Tigers at RIT on October 16-17, before opening ECAC Hockey play on the road at RPI and Union on October 24-25.

Over Thanksgiving week, SLU will take on the Eagles of Boston College on November 28-29.

The Saints are scheduled for two non-conference games against Route 11 rival Clarkson, the first is the North Country kids' game at Cheel Arena on Wednesday, November 12 at 11 a.m. and the second will be on Thursday, December 4 at Appleton Arena. The first conference game against Clarkson will be the same week at Cheel Arena on Saturday, December 6, marking the final game of the fall semester.

The Saints return to action on January 9-10 with a road series at Cornell and Colgate. SLU will host their half of the Route 11 Rivalry on Tuesday, January 20 at 6 p.m. at Appleton Arena. St. Lawrence will host Colgate and Cornell for the final weekend of the regular season and senior weekend on February 13-14.

"It's seems like yesterday we were just finishing up the 2024-25 season, and I think we're all ready to get the new season underway."

Follow the links to check out the Saints' latest news, roster, and schedule for the upcoming season. Can't make it out to the Appleton Arena this season? Follow along with all games on live stats or video, linked on our schedule page.