Lake Forest College Sports Information
Contact:  Scott Rucker, SID

Foresters Ready For Inaugural Season
Head Coach T.R. Bell is team's first coach

LAKE FOREST, IL -- May 7th, 1999 will be forever known as the beginning of a new era for women's hockey at Lake Forest College. On that date the Lake Forest College Board of Trustees approved and Athletic Director Jackie Slaats announced the addition of women's hockey to the College's varsity sports docket. 

The Coach
Lake Forest's first head coach, T.R. Bell, a 1996 graduate of Lake Forest College, is focused on making the transition from a 'new program' to a 'winning program' as quickly as possible. "I am extremely excited to get in on the ground floor of varsity women's hockey at Lake Forest," explained Bell. "Our immediate goals will be to build a solid foundation of players that have a passion for the game, enjoy playing an aggressive style of hockey, and want to make an immediate difference."

Bell is no stranger to winning at Lake Forest College. During his four years (1997-present) as head women's soccer coach at Lake Forest, Bell has guided the Foresters to the Midwest Conference Championship Tournament three times, including a runner-up finish in 1997. His women's soccer team won a conference regular season title in 1998 and, in 2000, Bell became the Foresters' all-time winningest women's soccer coach. 

It won't take Bell nearly as long to become the College's all-time winningest women's hockey coach, as Lake Forest's first victory on the ice will give him that distinction. He will join Tony Fritz (men's soccer and men's hockey) and Mike Dau (handball and football) as the winningest coaches of two sports at Lake Forest. Bell served two seasons as an assistant men's hockey coach under Fritz before being named head women's hockey coach and played four years of hockey and two season of soccer for Fritz while a student-athlete at Lake Forest.

Bell has a solid vision of his inaugural women's hockey squad, "I envision our team as a disciplined unit that plays good positional hockey and is always moving the puck forward. We'll put constant pressure on our opponent's net - we're not going to sit back. We will be aggressive and play up-tempo hockey."

Forwards
That group of players will be led by sophomore center Robyn Slater, the team's top returnee from last year's club team who is, ".the team's best center," according to Bell.

He adds, "Robyn is a strong skater with strength and size. She has a tremendous understanding of how the game should be played and give us an excellent player to build around." 

Slater may also see time at defense this season, which would further deplete a thin group of forwards. "The offensive game is not a strength of this team at this point. We are not deep at the forward position, so we will need to be opportunistic and take full advantage of the scoring chances we get."

Michele Heffel, the team's captain, will team-up with Slater to give the Foresters an experienced pair of centers. "Michele and Robyn will give us a solid top two lines in terms of the center position. We will ask them to spend a lot of time on the ice."

Lara Scheibner, who also participated on last year's club team, gives Lake Forest a hard-working, solid third-line center.

The majority of the depth around the centers will be provided by the team's newcomers, according to Bell, "We are looking for some newcomers to step up and fill some holes on this team, especially from the wings."

Five freshmen - Tory Solley, Lydia Groskin, Sara Finesilver, Laura Beebe, and Liz Getschow - will be joined by a pair of upperclassmen from last year's team, Trisha DiFazio and Moira Funke, as the team's wings. 

Outside of Slater and Heffel's center spots on the top two lines, the majority of the other positions will be up for grabs, as Bell explains, "We will try to find a good balance between the lines because we are so thin. Early in the season, we may experiment with several different combinations until we find the best mix for our team."

Defense
While the offense may take time to develop and mesh, the Forester defense should be solid, according to Bell, "With the addition of several freshmen and transfers to our defensive lines, we should be tough to score on. Our defensemen will be a strong point of this team."

Sophomore Kerry Ryan and junior Heather Eade will be joined by three rookies - Kathy Eckhardt, Aja Dailey, and Siobhan Findlay - to form an excellent and deep defensive presence. Eckhardt is a sophomore transfer from Ohio State University, while Dailey and Findlay are freshmen. 

Both Eckhardt and Ryan will serve as assistant captains this season. "Kerry and Kathy are not only talented skaters, but they are a tremendous example to the other players because of their dedication and work ethic," Bell added.

Bell likes the make-up of his rookie defensemen, "Our newcomers on defense are top-notch. They are strong all-around hockey players that bring a knowledge of the game and commitment to the program."

The Forester defenders will also be counted on to supply an offensive spark to the team, as Bell expounds, "Because our defensive players are some of our more skilled athletes, we will ask them to rush the puck and provide us with another outlet to score."

Goaltending
Further solidifying a strong defensive team will be the play of three quality goaltenders. Bell explains, "We should be extremely good in goal with three more-than-capable goaltenders. All three are quality goaltenders who will fight for playing time."

Sophomore Anne Nitzkowski is coming off a stellar freshman campaign at the club level and will enter the season as the team's top net-minder. "Anne is a fundamentally and positionally sound goaltender whom we have a great deal of confidence in."

Freshmen Theresa Taylor and Sehla Quazi will also vie for playing time. "Although they bring differing styles of play to the ice, both Theresa and Sehla are quality players who will push for playing time."

Overview
Bell, who spent last season directing all aspects of the program in its last year at the club level, will be working with an extremely young team in his inaugral season as the team's varsity head coach. Just one senior and a mere two juniors grace the Forester's roster this season. 

"The majority of our talent lies in the freshman and sophomore classes, which bodes well for our future," according to Bell. "In order for us to be successful in the present, our underclassmen will need to play like juniors and seniors."

"We will hope to play good enough defense to keep us in every game as our offense progresses."

Schedule
As the only varsity women's hockey team in the state of Illinois, Lake Forest's schedule will consist of games against several teams from Wisconsin (both club and varsity) and a series with Hamline University from Minnesota. 

The Foresters' first schedule will be dominated by games amongst the newly-formed Northern Collegiate Hockey Association women's division. The NCHA, which is widely-regarded as the top small college men's hockey league in the nation, has expanded into a women's division for the first time in 2000-01. The inaugrial women's division will be comprised of five teams, including three first-year programs, which will play 16 regular season games followed by a four-team NCHA Championship Tournament. UW-Stevens Point, UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Falls, and UW-Superior will join Lake Forest in the NCHA women's division.

River Falls edged out Superior as the pre-season coaches pick to win the first league title. Stevens Point was picked to finish third, while Lake Forest and Eau Claire tied for fourth in the pre-season poll. 

Superior is in its third season as a varsity sport and River Falls is in its second season. Eau Claire, Stevens Point, and Lake Forest are all in the first season of competition.

"From the outset, it is our hope to be competitive with the other first-year women's hockey programs in the league and progress to the point where we are competitive with the more established programs by the end of the season."

Having a year under his belt, albeit as the team's club coach, can only help the transition to varsity status, according to Bell, "The incumbent players will be accustomed to my system and the lead time for us to be competitive should be quicker than the majority of first-year programs."