The Rhode Island Rams women's ice hockey team represents the University of Rhode Island (URI) in Women's Division 1 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). Since the team's 1999 inauguration, the Rams have been one of the most successful programs in intercollegiate women's ice hockey, winning nine regular season and nine playoff titles in the 15-year existence of the Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League, both ECWHL records. The Rams have also qualified for 12 of the 18 ACHA National Tournaments held for women's teams, a number that trails only Massachusetts, Michigan and Michigan State. Highlighting Rhode Island's 12 ACHA tournament bids are eight semifinal appearances, including five in a row from 2004 through 2008. The team's present coach, Ashley Pagliarini, was a standout defenseman at URI from 2004 through 2009 and is just the second head coach in team history, taking over for program founder Beth McCann for the 2014–15 season.
History
Early years (1999–2003)
The first women's teams at URI, typical of a new program, lost more games than they won, posting a 6–33–1 mark from the inaugural 1999–2000 season through 2001–02. For the team's first four years, it primarily used the West Warwick Ice Rink in West Warwick, Rhode Island - roughly a half hour drive from campus - as its home facility. Early schedules featured a mix of top club programs of the day, as well as junior varsity teams from NCAA Division I schools and NCAA Division III teams. Rhode Island's 2000–01 schedule, for example, included future ECWHL opponents Boston University, Massachusetts and Penn State from the first category, alongside the JV team from Brown and DIII's Salve Regina. The Rams' sole victory that year came against the Providence Lady Reds program.
In the 2001–02 season, URI became a member of the ACHA Women's Division (later ACHA Women's Division 1) in its second year of existence, as the organization provided much-needed structure, regulation and a national championship tournament for non-varsity women's college hockey. The Rams' 5–12–0 record in 2001–02 merited a final ranking of fourth in the East Region (at the time, the ACHA was split into three regions, with the top two from each receiving national tournament bids, along with two wild card selections). An improved team in 2002–03 achieved its first winning mark at 10–7–3, boosting the program to a near-miss for the ACHA National Tournament at third in the East Region. The Rams' stars in their formative years included Marina Riva and Lauren Marx, each of whom ranked among the top ten nationally in 2002–03 scoring. Marina Riva won the leading scorer award for the team in the 2002–03 season with 20 goals and 15 assists for a total of 35 points. Forward Heather Scherick became the first in URI's long line of ACHA award winners by earning All-American Honorable Mention that season.
The $12 million, 2,500-seat Bradford R. Boss Arena, which finally gave the Rams a top on-campus facility and would prove instrumental to the program's growth in the years that followed, opened in the fall of 2002.
Exploding on the scene (2003–2004)
Although the Rams showed steady improvement over their first four years, there really wasn't much indication of what would follow in season five: an immediate and decisive ascension into one of the nation's best programs, a status that continues to the present day.
Coinciding with this development was the advent of the ECWHL thanks to the efforts of McCann, who also served as the league's first commissioner. Buffalo, Penn State, Massachusetts and Boston University stood as URI's conference rivals in 2003–04.
Rhode Island served notice of the shift immediately, taking 15 of the first 16 games on the schedule. Notable among the results were a 4–2 win over NCAA Division I Sacred Heart on October 26, 2003, behind Robin Rosselle, who scored twice and assisted on the other two Rhody tallies. Win 15 of that opening salvo came on January 9, 2004, by a 4–3 score against defending national champion Michigan State. The next week, URI finished second at the UMass White Out Tournament, an invitational packed with powerhouses like the hosting Minutewomen, West Los Angeles College, Colorado and Robert Morris (IL), before thoroughly dominating the schedule's home stretch. Against Buffalo, Penn State, Bates College, UMass and Saint Anselm, the Rams went 9–0–0 and scored 50 times while only surrendering 11 goals. A 2–2 draw with NCAA Division III Holy Cross closed out the regular season.