Norwich University

Sophie Leclerc Doherty '10 enters her sixth season as the head coach of the women's hockey team in 2024-25.

Last season, Leclerc Doherty piloted the Cadets to an NEHC regular season championship, going 15-2-1 in conference play en route to earning the top seed in the NEHC playoffs.  Livia Brooks '27 became the first NEHC Player and Rookie of the Year in program history, leading a list of eight All-Conference honorees.  Brooks was also an AHCA All-American and a finalist for the Laura Hurd Award for Division III National Player of the Year.

Leclerc won her second NEHC Championship at the helm in 2022-23, returning the Cadets to the NCAA Tournament.  Before that, she guided Norwich to a 23-4-2 record in her inaugural season in 2019-20.  The Cadets won their fourth straight NEHC Tournament title with a 9-2 win over Suffolk and beat Amherst in the NCAA Tournament First Round.  Overall, she is 68-21-4 in her career as she enters her fifth year. 

Leclerc tutored Amanda Conway '20, who became the program's second Laura Hurd Award winner, Division III National Player of the Year.  She coached four All-Americans (Conway, Samantha Benoit '21, Sophie McGovern '20, Ann-Frederique Guay '23, and Livia Brooks '27) and 31 NEHC All-Conference honorees. 

Norwich had three individual NCAA statistical champions and the nation's highest-scoring offense with 154 goals in 29 games (5.31 per game average).

Leclerc was named the second head coach in Norwich University women's ice hockey history on May 17, 2019, replacing Mark Bolding as the only coach the program had known since its varsity inception in 2007-08. 

The Barre, Vt. native returned to Norwich and Central Vermont after spending four years as an assistant coach at Division I Colgate University, helping lead the Raider women's hockey program to unprecedented success during her time there. 

Leclerc helped head coach Greg Fargo lead a dramatic program turnaround at Colgate with a 101-36-1 record in their four seasons, including making the program's first appearance in the NCAA Division I National Championship game in 2017-18.  Before Leclerc arrived at Colgate, the Raiders had never had a 20-win season, and their best win total in the previous five seasons was 11.

In 2017-18, Colgate won a program-record 34 games, shattering its previous high of 22 games.  The Raiders also won their first ECAC Hockey regular season conference title, made their first conference title game appearance, first NCAA Tournament berth, and first Frozen Four appearance.

Leclerc also played an instrumental role in bringing in the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class (neutralzone.net) for the 2019-20 season.

Leclerc was a four-year standout at Norwich, helping build the program from the ground up as a player on the inaugural varsity team in 2007-08.  She went on to cap her sensational playing career by guiding NU to its first national championship with a 5-2 victory over RIT in 2011.

Leclerc still ranks as the all-time program assists leader and is ranked third in nearly every other offensive category, including career points.  She scored 72 goals (third) and tallied 91 assists for 163 points in 112 career games played.

In her senior year, Leclerc set new single-season personal records at the time for goals (26), assists (28) and points (54).  She was named the NEHC Player of the Year, New England Division III Player of the Year, American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) First Team All-American, and was the runner-up for the Laura Hurd Award (National D-III Player of the Year).

After graduation, she spent one season as the head girl's ice hockey coach at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H.  Leclerc returned to Norwich as the full-time assistant coach under Bolding in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

She helped the Cadets to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in two seasons, including an NCAA Division III National Runner-Up finish in 2013-14.  Norwich posted a 49-10-3 mark in Leclerc's tenure as an assistant coach.

Leclerc graduated from Norwich with a Bachelor in Physical Education degree and then also earned her Master in Organizational Leadership degree in 2012 from Norwich as well.

Leclerc lives in Barre with her husband Pat, son Jett, and dog Kevin.