A successful Varsity Girls Hockey season was brought to a close on February 1, ending with the team placing fifth within the Metro Girls Hockey League—just shy of qualifying for the Metro Girls Hockey League playoffs. The season consisted of six games, with the team growing stronger as the season progressed and finishing with an overall record of 2-2-2.
The first game, against the Lincoln-Way Southsiders, ended in a tie, with both teams scoring three goals. Kayleigh Dunford ‘28 was a standout player, assisting a goal during the second period and scoring another during the third.
A second tie occurred in the following game against the Maine girls, in which both teams only scored one goal. The LFA goal was scored by Maiko Yamaoka ‘28 with an assist by Mia Pellegrini ‘29.
The LFA girls had their first win, with a score of 9-7, in their third game against the Evanston Wildkits. Dunford stood out once again with two assists and two goals, though Madeleine Stastny ‘26 and Jenna Gilani ‘26 also excelled with both players succeeding in two goals and one assist, each.
The first loss of the season ended with a score of 1-5 in their fourth game against the Chicago Central girls. The LFA goal was unassisted and scored by Jenna Gilani.
In their second win of the season, the LFA girls ended their fifth game against the Loyola Ramblers with a score of 5-3. Dunford stuck out yet again for scoring three goals, though Jenna Gilani also executed one goal and one assist.
The season ended with a 8-1 loss to the Naper Valley Warriors, with Clara Danz ‘29 scoring LFA’s goal with assists from Stastny and Zoe Watkins ‘28.
The LFA girls tied with the Lincoln-Way Southsiders for the qualifying fourth-place spot. Due to tie breaker rules set by the Metro Girls League in 2013, however, the team ended up taking fifth place. The rule in question dictates that ties be settled based on penalty minutes before goal differential—with fewer penalty minutes being favored—something that is relatively unique compared to many other hockey leagues.
Although the Metro Girls League is technically under Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois (AHAI) as well as USA Hockey Rules, the league is free to decide their own tiebreaker rules. Penalty minutes is placed fourth in terms of important statistics to distinguish between tying teams. This is largely due to the small size of the league, with only fourteen teams, and the sizable disparity in skill and experience between the top and bottom teams.
This season was particularly significant considering the team graduated ten seniors last year, leaving the roster relatively depleted prior to tryouts. “When you lose that many leaders and talented players, you start thinking about rebuilding a team,” Head Coach Erin Stoney commented, “I was so pleasantly surprised that we didn’t have such a severe rebuild this year.”
Despite just barely falling short of the playoffs, the Varsity Girls Hockey team played a strong season, demonstrating incredible growth and promising skill from its newest members.
This effort fueled their season’s success—Stoney noted, “The expectations at the beginning of the season was how fast can we develop? And that started happening right away.”
As the winter season comes to an end, both coaches and players anticipate a surmounting triumph for the 2026-2027 season.