Women’s Hockey Starts Seventh Season at Utica Kick-Off Tournament

SUFFOLK at #13 UTICA
Date Time Venue Video Stats Notes Series Last Suffolk Win Streak	Friday, Nov. 1 4:00 PM Nexus Center Utica, N.Y. Empire 8 Network UticaPioneers.com GoSuffolkRams.com Oct. 27, 2023, L, 6-2 Never Lost 1

SUFFOLK vs #5 ELMIRA
Date Time Venue Video Stats Notes Series Last Suffolk Win Streak	Saturday, Nov. 2 TBA Nexus Center Utica, N.Y. Empire 8 Network UticaPioneers.com GoSuffolkRams.com Oct. 28, 2023, L, 5-0 Never Lost 1

SUFFOLK vs. WILKES
Date Time Venue Video Stats Notes Series	Saturday, NoV. 2 TBA Nexus Center Utica, N.Y. Empire 8 Network UticaPioneers.com GoSuffolkRams.com First Meeting

BOSTON – Suffolk women's hockey will pull the curtain back on its seventh season at the Utica Kick-Off Tournament this weekend. The Rams will face No. 13 Utica in the season debut Friday, Nov. 1 at 4:00 p.m. and will take ON either No. 5 Elmira or Wilkes Saturday, Nov. 2 pending the results of game one. 
 
SOCIALIZE
Ram Nation has a chance to keep up with all the latest news and notes on Suffolk Athletics, its student-athletes and teams by following the Rams on Facebook, Instagram and X. Fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #RamNation a behind-the-scene look at Suffolk Athletics.

WELCOME BACK
The blue-and-gold brings back 13 players from last season's team that went 8-15-2 overall and 7-9-2 against conference counterparts.  

Jenna Caballero (6g, 8a) and Liliana Moose (3g, 9a) headlined Suffolk's scoring as sophomores. Katie Newkirk(4g, 6a) also had double-digit points, while Alessia Di Silvestro was on the verge of double figure points with eight on six goals and two assists. Maddie Gagliano (4g, 3a), Bella Schmidt (2g, 5a), Anya Nichipor (3g, 3a), Sammy Lassman (3g, 1a), Sam Molind (4g), Leslie Steiner (1g, 3a), Aiden Levee-Oshiro (1g, 2a) and Cassie Borowski(1g, 1a) are back in the fold for the Rams as well. 

Goaltender Lily O'Neil returned for her fifth year. She is the only Rams' women's netminder to surpass the 1,000-save mark and holds a career 2.09 GAA and .925 save percentage. 

RAMS ROOKIES
Suffolk women's hockey will get an added boost from new faces in 2024-25 as second-year head coach Abby Ostrom assembled a nine-member recruiting class. 

The group is comprised of seven true freshmen – Lily Abraham, Shayna Deutsch, Alexia Hill, Liv O'Brien, Laurel Potter, Lola Rubenstein and Abby Sandler – one sophomore transfer, Katelyn Michals from Assumption, and one grad transfer, Kate Pohl, who played her undergraduate career at Amherst.  

MORE READING: Nine Newcomers Join Women's Hockey for 2024-25 

GEOGRAPHY 101
No more than four student-athletes are from the same are state side or internationally.  

Massachusetts has the most resident with four with Illinois in a close second with three. A twosome hails from Florida, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. California, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Texas are represented by one Ram each with one player bringing her talent to Beantown from Ontario. 

CLASS RANKS
Suffolk's 22-player roster is evenly divided between upperclassmen and underclassmen.  

The upperclassmen are spread out in four seniors, three juniors and two graduate students. Underclassmen wise, there are seven true freshmen and six sophomores. 

PUCK POSITIONS
The 22 Rams are broken down into 13 forwards, six skaters on the blue line and three netminders.  

RAMS RINGLEADERS
For the second straight season Suffolk women's hockey will be led by a four-season as second-year head coach Abby Ostrom has announced the Rams' 2024-25 leadership group in captains Lily O'Neil and Sammy Lassman and assistant captains Sam Molind and Leslie Steiner. 

MORE READING: Four to Captain Women's Hockey in 2024-25

OSTROM OUTLOOK
Abby Ostrom became the program's second-ever head coach in August 2023 and begins her second season in the position this year.  

Kevin Spillane returns to the bench as Ostrom's assistant coach with Katie Gaskin joining the coaching ranks for her first year with the team in the same role

OPENING ACT

• Suffolk will open its campaign on the road for the fifth time in program history, third straight season.
• The Rams fell to Utica in last year's debut, 6-2, to move to 3-3-0 in their first game of the year all-time. 
• On the road, Suffolk is 1-3-0 in season openers.
• The blue-and-gold is 2-0-0 when lifting the lid on its season on its own ice.  
• The Rams won their first-ever season debut in 2020-21 in the form of a 5-3 victory over Nichols.
• The blue-and-gold's goal record in game one is five, which the Rams achieved twice. First in 2020-21 in a 5-3 win over Nichols and again a year ago in a 5-2 triumph against Plymouth State. 
• There has been only one shutout in Suffolk's opener history. The Rams were kept off the scoreboard when they lifted the lid on the 2019-20 season at Nazareth, 3-0.
• Suffolk has never needed extra time in its first outing of a campaign. 
• The Rams will face Utica in their season debut for the second straight season.
• Suffolk will face a nationally ranked opponent in game one for the second time and second time in as many years.  

PRESEASON POSITION
Suffolk women's hockey earned a share of third in the Conference of New England's Preseason Coaches' Poll, a compilation of the predictions of the league's seven head coaches.

MORE READING: Women's Hockey Shares Third in CNE Preseason Coaches' Poll

PIONEERS POINTS
A year ago, No. 13 Utica tied a program record of wins at 22-4-2 and produced its third consecutive 20-win season. The Pioneers were the UCHC runner-up for the second time in as many years.  

This year, Utica ushers in a new era under first-year head coach Melissa Lomanto, who was elevated from assistant coach. 

Lomato welcomes back four all-league players from last year in graduate defender Madison Novotny (15g, 19a), who led a unit who allowed the eighth-fewest goals in the national. Graduate forward Hailey Modlin (18g, 15a), defender Tess Barrett (2g, 19a) and goaltender Angela Hawthorne (0.99 GAA, .949 save percentage). 

INSIDE THE SERIES

• Suffolk and Utica met for the first time a year ago in the 2023-24 debut. 
• The Rams fell to the Pioneers, 6-2. 
• The first and only meeting between Suffolk and the Pioneers took place at Utica. 

MORE INFO: Suffolk vs. Utica – All-Time Series

STATS SHOWDOWN

SOARING EAGLES SCOUT
Elmira, who enters the weekend fifth in the latest DCU/USCHO Poll, is the 2024 NCAA Runner-Up. Overall, the Soaring Eagles went 23-8-1.  

Elmira brings back its top point producer in Erika Goleniak, who totaled 14 goals and 19 assists and Anna Lugge, who poured in 10 goals and handed out 14 helpers, while Louise-Leonie Kuehberger returns to her post in net after registering the national's fifth-best GAA of 0.94 and .941 save percentage. The Soaring Eagles second goaltender, Chloe Beaubein, meanwhile, compiled the best goals-against average in NCAA DIII in 11 games of 0.77. 

INSIDE THE SERIES

• Suffolk and Elmira started a series last year at the Utica Kick-Off Tournament. 
• The Rams were shutout by then-No. 12 Elmira, 5-0. 
• The blue-and-gold has never scored against the Soaring Eagles. 
• The first and only meeting between the Rams and Elmira took place on a neutral hardwood. 

MORE INFO: Suffolk vs. Elmira – All-Time Series 

STATS SHOWDOWN

COLONELS CATCHUP
Wilkes wrapped up last season 18-7-2.  

Haylee Bouchard collected 37 points a year ago with 18 goals and 19 helpers. Jordan Ferry sat second on the second with 12 strikes and 11 handouts and a team-leading 119 shots. 

Aubrey Milne is the team's go-to goaltender with a 14-5-2 ledger in between the pipes and a .946 save percentage.  

INSIDE THE SERIES

• Suffolk and Wilkes could be first-time foes this weekend. 

STATS SHOWDOWN

SUFFOLK'S SCHEDULE
The Rams begin their Conference of New England (CNE) campaign Nov. 8-9 against Endicott. Suffolk will battle the Gulls in Beverly, Massachusetts Friday at 5:00 p.m., before hosting the league rivals in a Mental Health Awareness outing at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Rink Saturday at 4:50 p.m.