They’ve been playing together for four years now, and it looks like they’ll be together for four more.
St. Mary’s girls hockey teammates Samantha Porazinski and Felicia D’Alessandro have made their future plans known by both announcing their commitment to play at Assumption University, cementing their on-ice relationship for another four years.
“We met freshman year but it feels like we’ve known each other way longer than that,” said D’Alessandro. “We’re really close and I’m so excited to get to continue this journey with her.”
“It will be really nice to already have someone who you know so well right when we join the team,” said Porazinski. “It’s really exciting to be able to keep playing together.”
Both four-year varsity players for Spartans coach Frank Pagliuca, Porazinski and D’Alessandro chose Assumption because of their comfortability with the campus and the focus on academics.
“I fell in love with the campus right away,” said Porazinski. “I’ve always gone to smaller schools and the place just felt right, and it’s got a great academic background as well.”
“As soon as I got on campus, I felt like I could see myself there,” said D’Alessandro. “I just feel like it’s a place where I can thrive academically, athletically and socially.”
Pagliuca pointed to both girls’ maturity when talking about them choosing Assumption for both academics and athletics.
“These girls both had plenty of opportunities, and it says a lot about their maturity that they chose to really find an academic fit when choosing a school,” said Pagliuca. “I know I wasn’t that mature at their age, and I’m really proud of both of them for all the work they’ve done on and off the ice.”
The recruiting process was mainly done over the summer for both girls, as each competed in summer tournaments for the North Shore Wings.
“I played in a lot of summer tournaments, and recruiting was definitely a little challenging because of our tight schedules and things like that,” said D’Alessandro. “But (Assumption) coach (Jack) Sweeney was really proactive the whole time and he really made a connection with me, which was nice.”
“I practiced and played at least three times a week all summer, so I was lucky to be able to play a lot of hockey,” said Porazinski. “There were a few challenges with getting schedules out to coaches and not being able to meet in person at times, but it wasn’t as bad as I initially thought it would be.”
Now that the winter season is set to begin and the Spartans are getting back together for practices, Pagliuca is excited about what both Porazinski and D’Alessandro will bring to the ice this year.
“These girls are both captains and they’re both very important players for us,” said Pagliuca. “Felicia is tenacious and shows tremendous leadership every day, and she’s an incredibly underrated player for the amount she gives us day in and day out. Sam is our Swiss Army Knife, and she can play any position besides goalie. She’s been the best player on the ice for us at times, she has an incredibly high hockey IQ and she really plays a big role on offense and defense.”
The girls are just as excited to get back out there and compete.
“We feel incredibly lucky to be playing and we’re excited to get things started,” said Porazinski. “We have a lot of younger players and only four seniors, so it’ll be exciting to see what we can do.”
“We’re all super excited for the opportunity to get out and play this year, and we’re hoping to make the best of it,” said D’Alessandro. “We’re getting out on the ice now and we’re starting to build those relationships, so we’re excited to see where things go.”