Tara Connolly enters her seventh year and sixth season with the RPI women’s hockey team after joining the Rensselaer staff in August 2017. She primarily runs the Engineers defense, goaltenders and penalty kill units while serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator.
Renown for its defensive toughness, RPI boasted excellent numbers in these areas over the past six years. The penalty kill unit has enjoyed national rankings three of the last five seasons, finishing ninth in the NCAA in 2022-23 (88.8%), seventh in 2021-22 (90.0%), and 11th in 2018-19 (86.8.%).
RPI goaltenders have also achieved national recognition under Connolly, a former netminder. In 2022-23, Amanda Rampado ’23 earned Third Team All-ECAC and was named a Top-11 Semifinalist for the National Goaltender of the Year Award.
Lovisa Selander ’19 became the program’s first-ever Patty Kazmaier?Award Top-10?finalist and a CCM/AHCA First Team All-American in the 2018-19 season. Graduating with the NCAA record in career saves (4,167), Selander received ECAC Goaltender?of the Year honors and was First Team All-ECAC distinction. Selander earned a spot on the Alll-ECAC Second Team in 2017-18.
Under Connolly’s tutelage, Selander made her international debut with the Swedish National Team at the Four Nations Cup in 2018 and the IIHF World Championships in 2019. As a professional, she went on to become a first round selection for the Boston Pride in the 2019 NWHL (now PHF) Draft and earn Goaltender of the Year accolades in her rookie campaign.
In Connolly’s first season with the Engineers in 2017-18, RPI, won nine times and earned six ties. Nine of the team’s losses were by a mere one goal.
The following season in 2018-19 witnessed a resurgence for RPI Hockey in which the team’s 14 wins marked the most victories in a season for nearly a decade. The Engineers finished with a 10-11-1 record in ECAC play to earn a spot in the postseason tournament, during which they became the first No. 8 seed to win a playoff game when they defeated top-seeded Cornell to force game three.
Since returning to the conference playoffs, the program has continued its competitive climb in a strong ECAC conference. Following a cancelled 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Engineers came roaring back in 2021-22. RPI recorded wins over a pair of ranked opponents in No. 7 Clarkson and No. 9 Providence and received votes in the national polls for the first time in over a decade. RPI also returned the Mayors Cup to Troy in 2021-22 and successfully defended it in 2022-23 after consecutive victories over crosstown rival Union College.
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Prior to Rensselaer, Connolly served as an assistant coach at Division-III Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she?worked with all aspects of the program but focused on recruiting, defensemen and goaltenders. She signed an All-NESCAC and All-American?goaltender and helped the Cardinals return to the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament.
She also assisted with the women’s lacrosse team, mentoring two All-NESCAC goaltenders and an All-American defender. The team earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017.
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Connolly actively involved with USA Hockey at both the national and regional levels. Each summer since 2015 she has coached at the National Select Camps. She serves as the Camp Coaching Director for the Rocky Mountain District and provides evaluation insight for the U18 national team.
Before embarking on coaching, Connolly spent one year (2013-14) as an athletic communications assistant at the University of Connecticut, working alongside a trio of NCAA Championship teams in field hockey (2013), women’s basketball (2014) and men’s basketball (2014).
In 38 career games in goal for the Bowdoin?College women’s hockey team as an undergraduate, Connolly posted?a 21-11-3 record and a .914 career save percentage while helping the Polar Bears to the 2013 NESCAC Championship. Also a four-year starter in the lacrosse cage for the Polar Bears, she set the program record for career wins (49) and earned All-NESCAC?First Team and Second Team IWLCA All-American in her final season.
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Connolly graduated from Bowdoin College?in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in history and teaching before completing a master’s degree in liberal studies at Wesleyan University in 2016.
