On the weekend of February 14th, Girls Hockey participated in the Founders Cup at our Mackenzie Ice Arena. The Founders Cup is a playoff of the top four teams in the Metro Girls Hockey League. There are six teams total; Barrington Fillies, Chicago Central, Lake Forest Academy Caxys, Burlington West Grizzlies, Lake Forest Scouts, and Evanston Wildkits. The top four teams in the league are heading to the Founders Cup. However, the Burlington West Grizzlies could not gather enough players to compete, so the fifth-place team the Lake Forest Scouts will be taking their place at the Founders Cup. LFA’s Girls Hockey hasn’t qualified for the Founders Cup in six years.
Varsity Girls Hockey took a big step forward this year with new coaching – Erin Stoney, and assistant coaches Shannon Gibbons and Donna Fowler. Other than coaching LFA hockey Stoney also coaches the U14 North Shore Warhawks team and is a strength conditioning coach. Stoney came into the season wanting a shorter roster hoping to create a tight, strong team. Captain Andrea Fernandez ‘25 said, “I think the team benefited from Coach Stoney creating a smaller team at the beginning of the season because it let her focus more on drills with set lines, help with the fundamentals of hockey, and create a tight bond between the whole team which really translated to the games.”
Gibbons and Fowler are current students at Lake Forest College, where they play Division III hockey. They joined mid-season and have been a crucial part of the team’s success this season. Fernandez also shared, “ I think having college-level hockey players on the ice made us better because they shared the mentality of always working hard and that losing was not an option.”
Building off their goal to double their wins of three last season, the girls ended with a 6-7-2 record, raising a standard of expectations from the team and proving to not only themselves but others that they’re capable of achieving consistent success. This success, manifested in LFA Girls Hockey first appearance in the Founder Cup Tournament since 2019.
The girls faced off against Chicago Central at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 15th. Despite being one of the most cohesive and fluid games of their season, the LFA girls fell short of the championship game, losing 5-3 against Central in a close-fought game. With goals scored by Fernandez ‘25, defenseman Madeleine Stastny ‘26, and powerhouse Kayleigh Dunford ‘28, the diversity in points across the board truly demonstrates this team’s range of talent and effort.
Fernandez explained, “ I feel this season was one of the best seasons I’ve had in all my four years of playing LFA hockey because the team was very close, and every day I looked forward to playing hockey with my friends.”
Although the girls team did not walk away from the end-of-season tournament with any hardware, they walked away with confidence in the team they had become since last year. Improving their record, beating teams they had never beaten, and building their chemistry on and off the ice, LFA Girls Hockey truly progressed in massive strides this season.
