Lake Forest College Sports Information
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

2005-06 Preview: Up and Coming
  

Sally Bevis set a school record last year
with a 2.31 goals against average.
LAKE FOREST, IL - Optimism is abundant in the Forester women’s hockey program – and for numerous reasons. The 2004-05 squad improved nine-and-a-half games from the year before, outscored its opponents 21-14 over the final eight games of the season, and posted ties against a pair of national-ranked programs during that span. In addition, Lake Forest not only returns both of its goaltenders and top five scorers from a year ago, but welcomes a new head coach as well. Carisa Zaban, a former NCAA Division I All-American and two-year member of the United States National team, takes over the reigns of the program and looks to add even more success to her hockey career behind the Lake Forest bench. “I’ve been very fortunate to both play on and coach successful teams,” recalls Zaban. “Lake Forest is starting to challenge for its own place among the quality programs in college hockey and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of that.”

Last year the Foresters tripled their scoring output from the previous seasons and cut their goals allowed nearly in half. The latter was due in large part to the play of Honorable Mention All-Northern Collegiate Hockey Association goaltender Sally Bevis, who posted the highest save percentage (.927) and lowest goals against average (2.31) in team history. The goaltenders also faced fewer shots on goal than in any other season, thanks in large part to an improved defensive corps, led by Andrea Richmond, Darby McGrath, and Amalia Vriend.

At the offensive end, forwards Laura Wilson and Lil Caligiuri also earned Honorable Mention All-NCHA honors and tied for second on the team with 13 points. Fellow forward Erin McGrath led a balanced attack with 14 points and Courtney DeHoey and Katie Snowden also reached double figures with 12 and 10, respectively. All five players will return in 2005-06 and lead what Zaban expects to be an even more potent scoring attack. “It’s clear that the offense made great strides last year,” she begins, “However, we’ll need to repeat that type of improvement to get where we want to be next year.”

“The nucleus of a great team already exists here at Lake Forest,” Zaban concludes. “We’re quickly gaining on the top teams in a very tough league and, with a few talented newcomers, we might just get there very soon.”