ITHACA, N.Y. – Doug Derraugh, the head coach of women's hockey, announced Monday the team's incoming Class of 2021. The seven additions will join a perennially strong Big Red program that will be looking to make its eighth trip to the ECAC Hockey Championship game in the last nine years and its seventh trip to the NCAA tournament over the same span.
 
Three forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender comprise the new class, with five hailing from the United States and two from Canada. They will add depth to a Cornell squad that lost two of its leading three scorers to graduation following last season, though every other goal-scorer returns — including reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kristin O'Neill.
 
Class of 2021
Lindsay Browning — Goaltender — Penfield, N.Y. (Buffalo Bisons)
Browning was a 2017 All-Greater Rochester Ice Hockey selection while competing with Penfield HS. She won a New York state championship with the U16 Buffalo Bisons in 2016, when she was also awarded the 2016 United States Marine Corps Scholastic Excellence Award for academic achievement and leadership as a high school scholar. She was also a 2017 National Merit Scholarship finalist in 2017.
 
Devon Facchinato — Defenseman — Windsor, Ontario (Team Ontario)
Facchinato helped Team Ontario win a PWHL Championship, a provincial championship and a U18 national championship in 2017. She also competed with the Oakville Junior Hornets at the club level, earning bronze at the U18 national championship in 2016. She also won a CISAA Championship in 2016 and 2017 at Appleby College, where she was presented with the Hugh C. Cayley Award in 2017, presented to the graduating student who honors the most outstanding achievement for both athletics and academics.
 
Finley Frechette — Forward — Weston, Mass. (St. Paul's School)
Frechette was named to the All-New England Team in 2017 and was selected to the New Hampshire School All-State Team in 2016 and 2017. She was honored with the Loomis Medal, the highest athletic award for a female student who has made the greatest contribution to the St. Paul's athletic program. Frechette attended the USA National Camp in 2013-15 and played in the USA National Camp All-Star Game in 2015.
 
Madlynne Mills — Forward — Sewickley, Pa. (Shattuck-St. Mary's)
Mills won four consecutive USA Hockey national championships with Shattuck-St. Mary's, where she was presented the school's Best All-Around Girl Award in 2017. In 2016, she won the Cooley Award — presented to the best all-around student in the junior class — and she also received the Bausch + Lomb Honorary Science Award, granted to the junior with the highest standing in science subjects during the entire upper school course. Mills became a member of the Cum Laude Society in 2016-17.
 
Kendra Nealey — Defenseman — Chicago, Ill. (Chicago Mission)
Nealey won a national U19 national championship with the Chicago Mission in 2015, later helping the team reach the U19 national championship game again in 2017 and semifinals in 2016. She also competed for University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and was named the team's most valuable player in 2016 and 2017. She earned all-state honors in all four of her years with the team, capturing a state title in 2015, and the league's top defender award and a spot on the Blackhawk Alumni Association High School All-Star Team in 2017.
 
Joie Phelps — Forward — Eagan, Minn. (Visitation HS)
Phelps was selected to the Minnesota all-state team in 2015-17, and she was also a semifinalist for Minnesota's Ms. Hockey in 2017. She was selected to the Minnesota State High School Hockey All-Tournament Team in 2016 and 2017, and she also became a member of the Minnesota All-TriMetro Conference Team all four seasons of her high school career.
 
Willow Slobodzian — Defenseman — Clavet, Saskatchewan (Saskatoon Stars)
Slobodzian is currently participating in the Team Canada National Women's Under-18 Team selection camp. She has competed with Team Canada before in IIHF U18 series against the United States in 2015-16 in Finland and 2016-17 in Canada. With the Saskatoon Stars midget AAA team, she won a provincial and regional championship in 2015 and 2016. She was named rookie of the year in 2015, honored as the top defenseman in 2016 and 2017, and named MVP in 2017. Slobodzian also helped the Stars to a Mac's International Tournament Championship in 2015, earning the Best Plus Minus Award.