The Colgate Raiders women's ice hockey team is an NCAA Division I ice hockey team that represents Colgate University and play in ECAC Hockey. The Raiders play their home games at Class of 1965 Arena. The Raiders have played in Division I hockey since the 2001–02 season after playing at the NCAA Division III from 1997 to 2001.

History

1973–1983: The early years

From 1973 to 1974, Colgate Women's hockey started as an intramural team. Despite interest from the players in making the team varsity, the Athletic Director said the team would require "sustained interest." In 1974, Colgate Women's Hockey became club team. For the players from 1974 to 1983, 57% had never played on a team before Colgate women's hockey. 92% had never played hockey before, and 62% started by playing on figure skates, using masking tape over the toe picks. Many pieces of equipment and uniforms were "hand me downs" from the men's team. Players had to purchase their own sticks, skates and jerseys. The women's team practiced when ice time was available, which was usually late, after intramural games were completed, usually at 10 p.m.. Damp, smelly pads would be passed from intramural players to the women – given a brief spray of sanitizer by the student intramural equipment minder during the transfer. During these years, the team played other colleges up and down the east coast, including Cornell, St. Lawrence, Oswego and Ithaca. The team played at Middlebury and Williams, but since they didn't have hockey rinks, they played in a curling rink. Whether checking would be allowed was determined before the game by the coaches. If a team didn't have pads for each suited player, there was no checking. One memorable game in the early years included an 18–1 loss to Cornell, during which the Colgate goalie stopped 72 shots. In the early years, players travelled to games in their own cars or used university vans, which they had to drive themselves. With no funding for transportation and accommodations, the players would often try to play near where some of the players lived and stayed at the player's family's house. For many games, players had to call around to find out who could make the game, what positions they could play and if they had a jersey. Coaching the team was a volunteer job, and it was an unpaid and time-consuming one, so it was often difficult for the team to find coaches. One of Colgate women's hockey's first coaches was Mike Milbury.

Cook v. Colgate University

In 1993, the Colgate Women's Hockey Team was granted varsity status after a decision from the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Colgate University appealed an original judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, ordering it to elevate its women's club ice hockey team to varsity status and to provide equal funding and benefits to its men's and women's ice hockey programs. The plaintiffs were Jennifer Baldwin Cook, Melissa Ehlers, Christine Price, Thayer Jaques and Julie Wolff, who were all either current or former Colgate students and former members of Colgate's women's club ice hockey team. Frustrated by Colgate's continued reluctance to elevate the program to varsity status, the plaintiffs filed in court on April 10, 1990, alleging that Colgate's failure to provide a comparable ice hockey program to men and women students violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1688 (1990), the regulations of the Department of Education, as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. For its part, Colgate denied any discrimination and argued that its compliance with the mandates of Title IX should be measured by its overall athletic program, not by a sport-by-sport comparison. Ultimately, Cook et al., won the judgement.

1997–2001

Colgate women's hockey went varsity in 1997. The team was initially Division III but transitioned to Division I in 2001.

2001–11

In 2008-2009, Kimberly Sass set a school record for most wins in a season by a goaltender with 14 games. Sass finished the season as one of the top ranked goalies in the ECAC. Her .941 save percentage was first in the ECAC. Her 1.85 goals against average was sixth while her .656 win percentage was fourth. From October 7–8, 2011: In a pair of victories over the Lindenwood Lions, Brittany Phillips accumulated a total of 10 points. In the 7–2 victory on October 7, she notched two goals, while logging an assist. One of the goals was the game-winning goal. The following day, she had seven points (two goals, five assists) in an 8–2 win. Of the four goals she scored, two were power play goals. Her seven points ranked second in program history for most points in one game. The five assists ranked second for most assists in one game. In addition, Melissa Kueber registered six points in the sweep. On October 8, she led the team with four goals scored in an 8–2 triumph over the Lions. She also notched an assist. The four tallies tied for first in program history for most scores in one game.

2012–2024

Greg Fargo began as head coach in the 2012–13 season. Prior to coaching at Colgate, he was head coach for the women's ice hockey team at Elmira, in NCAA Division III, for four seasons. Fargo played his college hockey career as a goaltender, at Elmira. In 2015-2016, Colgate had its first 22 win season, setting a program record. Colgate had its most successful year in program history during the 2017–18 season. The Raiders finished 34–6–1, setting a new program record for wins. They finished tied with Clarkson for first in the ECAC conference, with a 19–3 (.864) record, earning their first ECAC league title. They qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time, and advanced to the championship game after beating Northeastern in the quarterfinals by a score of 3–1, and Wisconsin in the semi-finals in a 4–3 victory. The championship game against conference rival Clarkson was a close contest. Clarkson scored first, at 16:29 in the opening period, on a goal by forward Cassidy Vinkle, assisted by Kelly Mariani. It was the only goal Colgate goalie Julia Vandyk allowed in regulation. Colgate tied the score at 2:27 in the second period, on an equalizer by Malia Schneider, her 16th of the season, with assists from Olivia Zafuto and Bre Wilson-Bennett. The teams went scoreless in the third period and ended regulation at 1–1. At 7:55 in the first overtime, Elizabeth Giguere scored the game-winner, to give Clarkson the national championship. Finishing as national runner-up, the season saw the highest finish for the Raiders in Colgate program history. Head coach Greg Fargo won the 2017–18 Division I AHCA Coach of the Year award, given by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

2024–present

On July 9, 2024, former assistant coach Stefan Decosse was named the fifth head coach of Colgate, after former head coach Greg Fargo was named head of the New York Sirens of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

Year by year

Roster

2022–23 Raiders

As of September 6, 2022.

Awards and honors

All-America honors

ECAC Awards

ECAC Monthly Awards

ECAC All-Rookie Team

Team awards

All-time scoring leaders

Additional records

Notable players

International

Raiders in professional hockey

Notable fans