Lake Forest College Announces the Addition of Varsity Women's Ice Hockey
Foresters Add 17th Sport to Varsity Docket

LAKE FOREST, IL -- Lake Forest College will add women's ice hockey as a varsity sport beginning with the 2000-01 season, announced Athletic Director Jackie Slaats. The College's Board of Trustees approved the move on May 7th.  Women's ice hockey has competed at the club level for the past 12 years at Lake Forest and will become the school's 17th varsity sport. "Women's hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation and we're excited to be one of the leading institutions in terms of advancing our program to the varsity level," commented Slaats. "Women's hockey at Lake Forest has had a successful past on the club level and it is the right time for the program to take the next step."

T.R. Bell, a 1996 graduate of Lake Forest College, has been named the school's first head varsity coach. "I'm extremely excited about getting in on the ground floor of women's hockey at Lake Forest," commented Bell, who will coach the College's club team for the 1999-2000 season, as well as, manage all other aspects of the program, including recruiting. Bell has been an assistant coach for the Lake Forest men's hockey program, as well as the school's head women's soccer coach, during the past two years. While in college, he was a four-year varsity letter winner for the Foresters while earning his B.A. degree in Sociology and Anthropology. In addition, Bell coached the women's club team for one season and has been an instructor at the USM Summer Hockey School for the past seven years, including director of the high school session. He competed for the University School of Milwaukee in high school and captained the team his senior year, in which they won the state championship and finished with a 32-1 record.

Women's ice hockey at Lake Forest College has a history dating back to 1987, when a student by the name of Sue Crawford '91 initiated the women's ice hockey club. In their inaugural season, the Lake Forest students played approximately 10 games against Lake Forest Academy, a girls high school prep team. The following year, the 15 women participating in ice hockey expanded their schedule to include other college club teams, again playing approximately 10 games. This level of competition continued throughout the early 1990's. In 1994-95, under the auspices of Andy Twombley '91, a former men's hockey player, the club team joined the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association (CCWHA), a league that included club teams from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The 1994-95, 1995-96, and 1996-97 seasons followed similar patterns in terms of participation and competition with approximately 25 players and 20 games annually. In 1997-98, under the direction of Brad and Dorothy Alves, the club team took even greater strides in terms of participation and competition. Nearly 30 players participated last year in the program that compiled a 19-4 overall record and won the inaugural Secretary's Cup by winning the White Division of the Erin Whitten Conference in the Women's Central Hockey League.

Lake Forest College is private, liberal arts school of approximately 1,200 students located in Lake Forest, IL, 30 miles north of Chicago on Lake Michigan.