The Colchester Sun

The all-time Division I scoring record at the University of Vermont has fallen. Perfectly enough a senior from Colchester, Vt., is now the leading scorer in Division I history at UVM. That record belongs to Chelsea Furlani, who recorded her 46th career point by scoring a goal on Sunday.

Furlani never expected to be the leading scorer–at least in women’s hockey while at UVM. The Colchester native started on the women’s soccer team before an ankle injury that required surgery and a switch of sports.

“She walked on as a freshman without big expectations and she’s just grown into such a leader for us,” UVM head coach Tim Bothwell said. “It’s just a feather in her cap and a great record for her.”

Furlani has 46 points off of 24 goals and 22 assists in her 122 games played as a Catamount, but gives all the credit of her success to her teammates, including her sister Kari who played from 2006-08. While they are both competitive people, Chelsea said there has been no jabs at each other of who is the better player, just praises.

“She’s the Colchester High School women’s hockey coach and she uses me as an example for the girls there,” Chelsea said. “We are each others biggest fans and are always there to praise one another.”

Being from Colchester, Furlani said she feels a bigger sense of accomplishment because she’s always considered the University of Vermont as her school. She said she knows about 95 percent of the people in the crowd and even when she goes into the community she’ll know almost everyone she sees.

“If I did this in another state I don’t know if it would have meant anything to really anyone to be honest,” Furlani said. “But all these people that have watched me in youth hockey and high school hockey are still with me, and that’s a really cool feeling.”

Furlani leads the team with 14 points this year off of seven goals and seven assists.

When asked what she likes better, recording an assist or finding the back of the net, Furlani answered it truly like only a senior could. “To be honest I like both as long it helps the team,” Furlani said. “I just want to be on the team that makes playoffs for the first time.”