Despite being smaller than many of the teams they face, the ISU women’s hockey club has high expectations for the season.

“A lot of other teams have size on us, but we have the speed to hold our own,” said club president Amanda Reverts.

Even with hockey being full of hard-hitting contact, club coach Blake Marshall said his team doesn’t have many injuries.

“We try to minimize the injuries by getting [the players] in shape,” Marshall said. “There is not a lot of checking, but there is body contact — it’s hockey, so it is very physical.”

The hockey club is a member of the western division of the American Collegiate Hockey Association.

Last year, the team received a bid to participate in the ACHA national tournament. It was the best year it had ever had, ending the season ranked No. 10.

Marshall said he expects this year’s squad to be competitive and possibly vie for a chance at the national tournament.

“We have several very talented players, but we are young again this year,” Marshall said. “We do have a few players from last year to build around, as well as a couple of very talented new recruits.”

Reverts said she is confident and looking forward to the season.

“It’s always hard to tell [how the season will be] before having played any games, but, with some strong new additions to the club this year, we have high hopes for the season,” Reverts said.

Marshall said any woman at Iowa State can be on the team.

“We are always looking for more players,” Marshall said. “We have yet to have tryouts since we haven’t had enough girls to play.”

After playing hockey in high school, Reverts could not do without the sport when she came to college.

“Playing hockey is a great stress reliever. Where else can I constantly pummel my goalie roommate without getting yelled at too much?” she said. “[Playing hockey] seriously does a great job of calming me down after a hard day or week.”

Four-year club member Katie Dunn also played hockey in high school in Minnesota. She said she also could not forget the sport.

“I love playing because we have a small team, which may seem like a drawback, but it just makes us that much more of a tight-knit group,” Dunn said. “We have a variety of playing experience on the team, and that helps us to have to work harder together.”

Reverts said she enjoys the friendships, but said the team also has some tough moments.

“It’s tough having late practices Monday through Thursday, and playing about every weekend possible definitely gets draining for us full-time college students,” Reverts said.

This weekend, the club will play at 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 p.m. Sunday against Robert Morris-Chicago at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.