Recent Northeastern graduates, forward Skylar Irving and defenders Lily Yovetich and Katie Davis, officially declared for the 2025 Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, Draft.
Northeastern is one of the few universities to have at least one alumna on every PWHL team this past season, with standouts such as the Boston Fleet’s goaltender Aerin Frankel and forward Alina Mueller, Ottawa Charge’s goaltender Gwyneth Philips and the Minnesota Frost’s forward Katie Knoll.
Irving, the team’s leading scorer for the 2024-25 season, cemented herself as a vital player in Northeastern’s 22-14-1 record. She has a reputation for being a tough, game-saving player, notching a total of 17 goals and 16 assists in the season. Irving also led the team in game-winning goals with five throughout the season.
In an interview with The Huntington News in October 2024, Irving said that the PWHL was “definitely an end goal that I want, but that’s the big picture goal.”
Lily Yovetich, a graduated five-year Husky from Los Angeles, was an unflinching and powerful defender throughout her time at Northeastern. She took 54 blocks in her 167 games played in 2024-25, but most notably, took the game-winning shot in the Beanpot final against Boston University for Northeastern’s historic three-peat.
At the 2025 Beanpot, a clip of Yovetich went viral after she said, “I think it’s funny, when you give a little money to a sport and you give some girls attention, what they can do with it. I think everyone should take a page out of our book and really put some more time and effort into women’s everything.”
Katie Davis, a transfer from the University of Minnesota Duluth, racked up 13 blocks and two assists within 37 games in her solo year at Northeastern as a graduate student.
The PWHL, a 2-year-old league, recently launched two new teams in an expansion effort, making its total eight teams. Each has 26 players, including three reserve players. Anyone who declares for the draft can be invited to a camp. In the event a player is drafted, the team holds their rights for two years, no matter if they report to camp or sign a contract. Their rights can also be traded during that time.
The draft will take place Oct. 24 in Ottawa.
