After the Lakers lost to Plattsburgh State in NEWHL finals, they knew their slim chance to make the NCAA Div. III Women’s Hockey Championship was gone. That was not the expectation for the team, however, as it had to face the prestigious Cardinals, who were nationally ranked throughout the season.

As the players packed up their equipment last March, they said goodbye to one of the best goaltenders in program history, Mariah Madrigal. Madrigal ranks in the top five in most statistical categories, such as save percentage and goals against average. From the outside, there were questions galore. Who would replace not only Madrigal, but also the elite goaltenders that she herself had followed?

For nearly a decade, the Lakers have had one of the best goaltenders in their conference. This slew of spectacular goaltending starts way back in 2007 with Emi Williams. The Anchorage, Alaska, native was named to the second All-ECAC West team back in 2011 and ended her Laker career with a .921 save percentage. Bridget Smith took her place between the pipes in 2011 and, by the end of her collegiate career, was named captain of the Lakers and set records, like most shutouts in a single season with six. The final key to this quartet of consistent goaltending was Tori Trovato, who holds single-season records for the best goals against average (1.10) and save percentage (.953).

With one goaltender returning from last season, Mikaela Ditonto, head coach Diane Dillon needed to recruit a handful of goalies that were difference-makers, like the ones that came before. Dillon did just that, as she brought in three new goaltenders, transfer junior Rachael Farmer and two freshmen, Hannah Lindey and Cassie Shokar. Farmer should be a familiar name for Oswego State supporters, as she played between the pipes for SUNY Cortland the last two seasons.

Although these are three new faces, Dillon is extremely confident in her goaltending.

“It’s all about defense,” Dillon said. “I think we are going to be very strong in net.”

In regards to Farmer, she played on a subpar Red Dragons team for the first two seasons of her collegiate career. As a freshman, she played in just seven games and had a 0-6-0 record. While her record and save percentage of .892 were not great, the team’s save percentage was actually worse than hers, at .891. SUNY Cortland ended the 2016-17 campaign with a record of 3-21-1.

Farmer ignored the proverbial sophomore slump last season and posted excellent numbers. On the worst team in the NEWHL, Farmer was in net for seven of SUNY Cortland’s eight wins. She accumulated a save percentage of .902 and goals against of 2.90. While these are nowhere near the stats of Madrigal, with goals against of 2.17, Farmer faced an average of 28.8 shots per game, over four more per game than Madrigal. In this season, Farmer played 24 games, or 96 percent of SUNY Cortland’s games. This experience is crucial for Farmer heading into her first season with the Lakers.

“She was in a position where she logged a ton of ice time in Cortland, a lot of experience,” Dillon said. “But, [she] hasn’t had the team in front of her for the most part over the last couple years to help support her efforts.”

Her efforts were phenomenal last season. In eight of Farmer’s 24 starts, she gave up two goals or fewer. In those games, the Red Dragons went 6-2-1. The fact that SUNY Cortland needed its goaltender to dominate in order to win games adds pressure that the Lakers should take off of Farmer this season.

“We are hoping here at Oswego State, we’ll have a strong defense in front of [our goalies] where you won’t have to pitch a shutout to win,” Dillon said.

The Lakers hope their better offense and skaters as a whole can propel Farmer to that elite tier of Div. III goalies.

“I think you are going to see her blossom quite a bit,” Dillon said. “[She is a] very talented, technically sound goaltender [who is] very quick.”

Moving onto the two rookie goaltenders, both played for widely respected hockey academies. Lindey of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, moved to Rochester to play for Selects Academy at Bishop Kearney, an all-female boarding school. At the 2018 Detroit Elite Girls Invitational,  Lindey stood on her head for the Selects Academy, who lost three of its four games. Lindey played in two of those games and gave up a single goal in both. Lindey received practically no help from her skaters, as they failed to score in three games. At 5 foot 7 inches, Lindey is on the taller side of the goaltending spectrum, Farmer is just 5 foot 3 inches, and Madrigal is 5 foot 4 inches.

Another one of these taller goalies is Shokar, who is the tallest goaltender on the Lakers’ roster at a height of 5 foot 8 inches. Shokar played at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. In her only season there, she was second in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League in save percentage (.923) and goals against (1.77). In the season before that, she played for the Greater Vancouver Comets in the Female Midget AAA, the highest level of minor league hockey. In 17 games played, Shokar was second in the league with a goals against average of 1.24.

Dillon said while both freshmen are very talented, they bring very different approaches and styles to the net.

Despite losing an all-conference goaltender in Madrigal, the net is in good hands, no matter who the starter is.

“It is going to be a very interesting decision when we decide who is going to be in net for us,” Dillon said. “It’s going to be tough to score on us.”

Graphic by Shea McCarthy | The Oswegonian