Back in late February and early March, Franklin Pierce clinched both the NEWHA regular season title and the conference championship, earning their way into the national playoffs for the first time in program history.
This may have been the second NEWHA championship title for the Ravens — the other coming back in 2021-22 — but the first to earn them a spot in the NCAA tournament, as the COVID-19 pandemic delayed NEWHA’s inaugural NCAA bid by a year.
“There was a level of disappointment that we didn’t get that opportunity the first time around, so certainly to be able to win it again this past season and to get to kind of go through the full process of what comes with that, it was exciting,” head coach David Stockdale told The Ice Garden. “For our seniors, it was a nice kind of cap to their career and for our younger players who get a chance to come back and try to do it again here in the future, hopefully it was a little bit of fuel [and] motivation for them to keep working hard and trying to get back.”
That hope is answered by senior Alex Cistolo, who served as assistant captain last season, and is looking towards another season on the leadership team surrounded by a freshly motivated group of athletes.
“The way that we performed versus Quinnipiac and just the stage that we played on, I believe it makes all of us more excited to be competing against the teams we’re competing against,” Cistolo said in an interview with The Ice Garden. “We were granted that opportunity so why not do it again, what’s holding us back from being able to compete on that stage again?”
However, it was a tight race for both titles last season, with the Ravens (NEWHA 18-8-2) finishing just two points above Assumption (NEWHA 17-8-3) and Stonehill taking Franklin Pierce to double overtime in the NEWHA semifinals. And with a number of notable losses facing the Ravens this offseason, it begs the question of whether this program will be able to make its way back to the top of the conference in 2026-27.
The biggest question will be between the pipes with the loss of star senior netminder Jill Hertl, who finished at the top of the NCAA in save percentage (.953) and eighth in goals against average (1.714), while smashing Ravens records all season long. She graduates the program with the most wins (61) and the most shutouts (20) in program history.
Hertl’s most likely successor is Rylee Eno, a rising junior who played in nine games last season to the tune of a .942 SV% and a 1.98 GAA, but underclassman Delaney Lawn and rookie Brooke Shoemaker will surely be campaigning for a spot on the ice as well.
Fortunately for whoever lands in Franklin Pierce’s net, the defensive unit remains solid. This is a veteran group that was top of NEWHA in penalty killing this past season, boasting an 89.1%, and returns many of the same faces, with the only major loss being that of senior captain Maggie Korneta.
“We got a couple [defenseman] that had pretty significant injuries last year, but they’re gonna be healthy this year, so our d-corps as a whole I think has the potential to be a big strength,” Stockdale said.
However, the same can’t be said for Franklin Pierce’s forward group. Between two graduates and five names in the portal on the front end, including first liners Bo Dean and Brynn Levinson, point generation could be a challenge for this roster. But it also leaves plenty of opportunity for the influx of new forwards.
And perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch are the most experienced, with sophomore Lily Erickson transferring into the program from St. Cloud State and senior Anna Caumo returning to Franklin Pierce after spending the past year competing with Team Italy at the Winter Olympics.
As the program’s first ever Olympian, Caumo has certainly made a splash with the Ravens. She earned two assists during her Milano-Cortina run and brings back a heightened level of experience as she returns to Franklin Pierce for her senior season.
“Knowing that she was gonna be in a position to compete in the Olympics, her focus and her intensity the second half of [her junior] season really went to another level,” Stockdale said. “I think her leadership is gonna be phenomenal. Obviously, she’s somebody that’s really easy for a younger player to look up to just given what she’s accomplished in her hockey career, and I know she wants to be somebody that’s very impactful on and off the ice, and certainly I think we’re gonna expect her to be that type of impact player for us in every regard.”
On top of that, Franklin Pierce already has a group of talented underclassmen set to rise to the occasion and step into some bigger roles this season. In 2025-26, sophomore Calleigh Murphy led the scoring during a breakout season, jumping up to a second-in-NEWHA 35 points after registering 10 the previous year in an injury-shortened season. Additionally, freshmen Addison Andre, Abigail Broz, and Melanie Targosz, and sophomore Hailey Anderson all had 20+ point seasons and return to the team as strong contenders for big minutes.
“This past season, [Calleigh] was able to come in and jump right into it from the start of the season, found some really nice chemistry pretty early in the year with Addie Andre and Abby Broz,” said Stockdale. “They just kind of clicked and that group stayed together for most of the season, which is a little bit unusual to have that kind of situation with a line, but they were just so good that it was really easy for us to kind of leave them together and all three of them produced at a really high level.”
Plus, when forming their lines for next season, the Ravens will have plenty of athletes to choose from. Franklin Pierce will have an extended roster this season, boasting 31 different names, and all of them hungry for a spot on the ice.
“It’s gonna be challenging… with 31 players to get everybody on the ice and in a position to succeed because they’re all extremely capable,” Stockdale said. “My hope is that it brings a really high level of competitiveness to everything that we’re doing on the ice and off the ice, and hopefully keeps it really fun to just be able to show up every day.”
Although the team is faced with such a big roster size, Franklin Pierce’s leadership group is already striving to make it feel connected behind a shared mission.
“We already had the family culture, but [we’re trying to get it] from freshman to senior so that everyone is one big happy family together,” Cistolo said. “We’ve had that in prior years, but just from the get go, from the start, that’s what we’re working on this upcoming year is just to make sure that we’re one big family from start to finish.”
Within the conference, the biggest challenge for the Ravens will be Assumption. After the Greyhounds finished just two points behind the Ravens in the regular season, they’re sure to be hungry for a win, especially with a largely veteran team. The Greyhounds only graduated three seniors last season and just one player hit the transfer portal, so there’s a strong group of returners who will be looking to push the envelope this season, including all three of the team’s 30+ point scorers from last year.
Regardless of what other teams have to bring to the table, the Ravens have a level of national and international experience that is rare for any NEWHA group. Only three other conference teams — LIU, Stonehill, and Sacred Heart – have made it to the NCAA tournament, and Franklin Pierce was the one to put up the strongest showing, falling 4-0 to Quinnipiac. Year after year, these teams keep getting stronger.
“At some point, whether it’s 5 years from now or 20 years from now, at some point, a NEWHA team’s gonna get to the NCAA tournament and win a game and I know that’s something that we’re very conscious of,” Stockdale said. “We’re very motivated to try and be that program that gets to the NCAA tournament and sets that standard for what a NEWHA program can do in that type of environment.”
