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Penn State Women's Ice Hockey Club Elevates to ACHA Division I, Adds NCAA Players

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via psuwihc.com

It took Penn State 12 years of ACHA Division I women’s hockey before reaching NCAA Division I varsity status. But it only took two to get back to ACHA Division I.

The Penn State Women’s Ice Hockey Club announced earlier this month that after a pair of seasons in ACHA Division II, both of which ended in second-place national finishes, it will move up to ACHA Division I. Additionally, it will leave its 2013-14 conference, College Hockey East (CHE), to join the Eastern Collegiate Women’s Hockey League (ECWHL). The ECWHL consists of defending league champion Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Northeastern, and fellow newcomer Navy.

The club has also added former varsity student-athletes Cara Mendelson, Darby Kern, Katie Murphy and Madison Smiddy to its roster, as well as Jess Desorcie as an assistant coach. The five made headlines when they were unceremoniously cut from head coach Josh Brandwene's Nittany Lions in April in retaliation for a player revolt.

Although the club has been around for just two years, the jump seems due. PSU is one of just three programs in history to qualify for consecutive Division II national championship games. This past season, the squad was 19-4-2 overall and 8-2-2 in the CHE to take first place in the conference standings.

In non-varsity hockey, the DI ECWHL stands as one of the nation’s toughest conferences. Northeastern was the 2012 ACHA national champion, while UMass lost in the championship game this past season. Including Penn State’s Katie Vaughan, nine players from current ECWHL teams were part of the U.S. National University Team that took home bronze medals from the World University Games held in Trentino, Italy back in December.

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via psuwihc.com

The move essentially means that women’s hockey at Penn State will now involve the NCAA team as well as a team in ACHA Division I, playing at the same level and in the same conference as the previous Penn State Lady Icers program did from 2003 until 2012. The Lady Icers were founded in 1996 and were an inaugural member of what was then the only ACHA women’s division in 2000, while the Women’s Ice Hockey Club was formed in 2012 as the Lady Icers elevated to its varsity position.

Penn State won the ECWHL regular season championship during the final season of its first run in the league with a stacked team featuring eventual NCAA team players Desorcie, Murphy, Mendelson, Smiddy, Taylor Gross, Lindsay Reihl, Tess Weaver and Kate Christoffersen, as well as future WIHC stars Vaughan, Carly Szyszko, Allie Rothman, Elizabeth Denis, Ashton Schaffer, Mary Kate Tonetti and Sarah Eisenhut. Schaffer, Tonetti and Eisenhut remain on the ACHA squad for 2014-15.

While the team’s full roster and schedule have yet to be announced, they will be posted on the team’s website, psuwihc.com, within the next couple weeks.

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