Exactly 100 years after Mary Low upset convention by enrolling at Colby, a plucky sophomore from Montreal, Canada, tumbled another gender barrier. Like Mary Low, her motivation was not political. Sue Yovic Hoeller '73 just wanted to play ice hockey. Now senior counsel in the legal department at Texas Instruments in Dallas, Hoeller says she came to Colby expecting to participate in the same activities she had enjoyed growing up in Canada. She was shocked to learn that hockey would not be among them. Hoeller tried to play on a men's intramural team but was asked to quit because the College physician was worried about her safety. "I think it was a legitimate concern; I didn't have any argument with that," Hoeller said. "Unfortunately, I didn't have any other options. It was either play with the men or not play at all." So Hoeller created a team of her own. She slapped posters up around campus to recruit other players, most of whom were ice skaters who knew little about hockey. She pressed administrators for equipment and practice time, and with the help of Dean of Students Doris Downing and Associate Director of Development Frank Stephenson '62--a former All-American goalie for Colby's men's team in the early '60s--Hoeller organized a fledgling club team. "We were pretty ragtag," Hoeller recalled. The players were forced to improvise uniforms and equipment. Some wore shin pads over gray sweat pants. Their practices--scheduled around the men's ice time--were held twice a week at 6:30 a.m. and 11 p.m. But the enthusiasm was evident, Hoeller says. Community reaction was curious but not antagonistic. "We didn't really run into any opposition once we got it started," Hoeller said. "The hard thing was getting it going." Hoeller finally realized her dream of playing an intercollegiate match during her senior year when Colby traveled to Providence to take on Brown. Nobody remembers the score of that game, but its significance went far beyond goals scored. In 1975, just four years after Hoeller's club team was formed, women's hockey was elevated to varsity status, making it the second oldest such program in the country. The Captain's Cup is named in Hoeller's honor. Energized and inspired by Hoeller's efforts to make hockey available to women, students began to push for equity in all sports. Women's lacrosse, softball and cross country were added in 1977, followed by soccer and indoor track and field in 1978 and squash in 1979. Later, volleyball, skiing and crew teams were added to bring women's varsity sports offerings to 16, one more than the number available to men. Perhaps most important, according to Hoeller, the establishment of a broader range of women's athletics created new leadership opportunities for female students. "It certainly did that for me," she said. She says the experience also prepared her for future challenges, including work at several all-male law firms. When she applied for a job at a Montreal law firm she was told, "Women can't be lawyers, it's too hard." She proceeded to tell the partner with whom she was interviewing that she had played hockey in college. She got the job.