WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — USF finally has a women’s ice hockey team.

That’s thanks to senior Bella Buontempo. Her freshman year, she realized she wasn’t quite ready to hang up her skates. So, she decided to create a club team for USF.

“It wasn’t really a big thing in the south, the only team in the south that had a women’s program was University of Tampa at the time.”

What You Need To Know

USF men’s hockey team has been playing on the ice since 1989. But there wasn’t a women’s team until just a few years ago when a freshman decided to change that

Bella Buontempo created much more than a club sport for the Bulls — she’s changing the landscape of college hockey in the south

USF women’s hockey took the ice for their inaugural season in 2021
MORE INFORMATION: USF Women’s Hockey Team

She gauged interest and for months worked on founding the team. 

In 2021, USF women took the ice for their inaugural season. 

“When I started I had about five girls that wanted to join my team and now we’ve gotten up to 22 girls on the roster, and I have a lot of incoming freshman too, so it’s really just growing,” Buontempo said.  

The team has grown bigger every year, and the impact has gone beyond Tampa Bay. 

Buontempo teamed up with a few other college hockey leaders who had a similar vision. 

Together, they created a space for women’s hockey within college hockey south. 

“We created the women’s division within the CHS which is the first ever collegiate women’s hockey program in the south.”

Now, it’s expanding into other teams in the south — giving college women the chance to continue playing the sport they love. Senior Emily Anderson is one of the women who has benefited.

“It’s beyond words how grateful I am for her to start this program, it gave me a little slice of my childhood in Florida and bringing it all around the south to other young girls and seeing the chains that we’re making makes me even more grateful to her for starting this program,” Anderson reflected.

What started as a way for Buontempo to play hockey in college has impacted so many lives.

“I’ve had a lot of girls come up to me and say, ‘I’m dreaming of playing for USF, you’re really an inspiration — seeing how you’ve grown the team,’” Buontempo said.

Buontempo created more than a club sport — she helped form a special kind of sisterhood and a league of their own.