The NEC women’s ice hockey team finished the 2018-2019 season with an overall record of 3-21-1, a NEHC record of 2-13-1, and unfortunately did not qualify for the post season.
“Our expectations were to continue changing our culture, bring our rookies into the fold quickly, and continue to develop as a team,” said Head Coach Maria Lewis. “We did this for the most part as our rookies became key contributors and our team continued to improve over last year.”
The Pilgrims did show a small improvement from last year, winning one more game and tying one less. The process for changing a program is a long one that takes time. Senior Alexa Scribner noted that, “we all wanted a winning record, good communication, support [and] by the end of the season we improved our culture, we always supported [each other, we] just had trouble finding the back of the net, losing by one or two goals was never easy.”
In nine losses the score was decided by one or two goals. This inability to close in tight games is something freshman forward Cortney Reyes is looking to help the team to turn around. “For next season, I think we need to improve our scoring, it was something we struggled with all season,” said Reyes, “so I’m hoping we are able to finish on more, if not most, of our scoring opportunities.”
Coach Lewis stated that graduating 12 seniors and a small returning core means the incoming freshman must again be “acclimated as quickly as possible.”
Senior Katie Donohue’s advice for the returning players is, “keep practicing and pushing yourself because you’re only helping the team when your push yourself past your limits.”
Fellow senior Vicki Shaw wants the returners “to take pride in our program, before you know it you’ll be done here.”
