SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The 2013-2014 Union College women's ice hockey team was honored at their annual end-of-year banquet. The Dutchwomen ended their season with a 9-24-1 record, the highest win total under Head Coach
Claudia Asano Barcomb.
Highlights of the season include defeating Princeton for the first time in program history, setting a new program best in power play goals with 25 and starting the season 2-0 for the first time in program history. Additionally, the team produced the third best power play in the conference and eighth best in the nation.
Senior captain
Maddy Norton earned the Hana Yamashita Coaches Award. Norton Appeared in all 34 games for the Dutchwomen during her senior campaign She led the team in assists (18) and points (21) and ranked near the top in the nation for power play assists (15) and blocked shots (77). All three of her goals were game winners including two on the power play. Norton finished her Dutchwomen career tied for second in games played with 135.
The George Morrison MVP Award was split between junior goaltender
Shenae Lundberg and senior forward
Stefanie Thomson. Lundberg compiled a 9-23-0 record with 787 saves, a .908 save percentage and a 2.73 goals against average in 32 starts Lundberg made 25 or more saves in 17 of her 32 starts on the year in addition to earning two ECAC Goaltender of the Week Honors. She also set program records for season wins (9), career wins (16), career shutouts (3) and moved into second place in the all-time career saves list (1,913) and goals-against-average (3.00).
Thomson appeared in all 34 games for the Dutchwomen during her senior season. She ranked third on the team in points (18) and was tied for the team lead in goals (11). She set program records for power play goals in a single season (7) and power play goals in a career (8). She also earned ECACH Player of the Week Honors after recording three power play goals, including one game winner, on exactly three shots versus Maine on 13 and 14.
Ashley Johnston received the Ashley Kilstein Award for the second year in a row for her outstanding service to the community. The senior co-captain played in all 34 games for the Dutchwomen and registered a career high six points (3-3-6) . She served as an anchor to the Dutchwomen defense and provided invaluable leadership to the squad. Ashley was a candidate for the Hockey Humanitrian Award as was named as one of four student-athletes to participate in the NCAA Final Four Innovation Summit.
Sophomore forward
Jamie Smith earned the Most Improved Player of the Year Award. After appearing in only six games during her freshmen season, Smith played in 32 games for the Dutchwomen during her sophomore campaign. She recorded five points (1-4-5) and tallied her first collegiate goal against Dartmouth on Jan. 25.
Freshmen defenseman
Kathryn Davis was named the team's Rookie of the Year. Davis missed only one game during her freshman campaign (33 games played) and led all rookies in points (4), goals (2) and assists (2). Davis recorded a goal in the Dutchwomen's first ECACH win of the season over Dartmouth on Nov. 1
For the second year in a row, junior
Christine Valente earned the Unsung Hero award. Valente played in all 34 games for the Dutchwomen during her junior season while tying a career high in goals (5), recording a career high 14 assists and ranking second on the team with 19 points. She also led the team shots on goal (83) and faceoff wins (203).
At the conclusion of the banquet, the Union coaching staff announced that Valente will also serve as the team's captain for the 2014-15 season.
"I am very excited to have Christine has our captain," said Barcomb. "She has demonstrated great leadership skills on and off the ice and I look forward to her leadership next year."
"I am honored to be named captain for the 2014-2015 season," said Valente "We had our greatest success as a team this past year and we are excited to build off of that. Every player contributes something positive to this team and we all plan to make this upcoming season the best in program's history. We are ready to work hard in order to obtain our goal of making the ECAC playoffs."
