Sports
Athlete of the Week: Laura DiCarlo ’12
By Becca Hazlett '13, Sports Columnist
February 2, 2012
The women’s hockey team had an exciting weekend against fourth nationally ranked Middlebury College. Senior forward Laura DiCarlo tallied a goal in each game, one of which won the game for the team in overtime on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, she gave the team a chance to win when she scored a power play goal with 5:40 left in the third period to cut the lead to 2-1.
As a senior leader, DiCarlo plays a key role on the team, and it’s not just scoring goals. On and off the ice she is consistently one of the hardest working members of the squad.
During the fall semester, DiCarlo broke her finger after blocking a shot and was sidelined for six weeks. Despite this nagging injury, she is still relentless not only in her work ethic, but also in her shot-blocking. Teammate Emily Baxter ’13 commented on DiCarlo’s play, “Laura does a great job blocking shots, which always gives the team a boost when we need it. It’s so impressive that after she broke a finger blocking a shot she is still fearless skating out to the point to block another.”
The senior started playing hockey when she was three years old because her older brother played. Commenting on her brother’s impact on her decision to play hockey, she said,“I just wanted to do everything he did.” It was at a very young age that DiCarlo knew she wanted to play hockey for as long as she could. In second grade, DiCarlo said she was fully convinced she would be a member of the U.S. Olympic team, so at least she knew she wanted to play hockey at a very competitive level. Thankfully, that desire brought her to Hamilton.
When asked why she wanted to play at Hamilton, Laura explained, “I actually didn't think that I wanted to come to Hamilton until I visited and fell in love with the campus and the community atmosphere. I remember that I came on the day of the housing lottery, and for some reason I thought it was the funniest thing how they had students hosting a live broadcast of it from the annex.”
DiCarlo is an avid Boston Bruins fan and her favorite player and self-proclaimed boyfriend is Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron. Unfortunately, Bergeron can’t always be there for support, so instead she turns to her closest friends, teammates and her mom who she said “has always been there for me.”
When she’s not on the ice, she enjoys the simple things in life, such as taking trips to Taco Bell, coloring fuzzy posters and watching ABC Family’s TV series Pretty Little Liars. Roommate Abby Runyon ’13 said, “Off the ice Laura is a joy to live with, she’s very simple and always enjoys a good laugh, which is very contagious for anyone around her.”
After she graduates Laura says she just hopes to have some kind of job and prefers to have one she is happy doing!