University of Delaware Athletics
Billi Roman was Always Destined to be a Blue Hen
9/24/2025 3:20:00 PM | Ice Hockey
NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware ice hockey team is set to drop the puck for its inaugural season on Friday evening at Fred Rust Ice Arena. While there is an air of excitement among the UD community for the first Division I women's hockey program in Delaware, probably nobody is more excited than freshman forward Billi Roman.
Roman was born and raised in the First State, growing up in nearby Hockessin. A rink rat most of her life, she was constantly at Fred Rust Ice Arena, Delaware's home rink, playing youth hockey herself or watching relatives play for UD's men's club programs. Roman's dad, grandfather, two uncles and two cousins all attended the University of Delaware. Roman is wearing No. 21 this season in honor of her late uncle, Tim Roman, who played club hockey at UD. Her older cousins, Tyler and Zach Swift, also played for the club program.
"It's really a dream come true," Roman said. "I mean, Newark feels like home, it always has. I've grown up around here, and it's so incredible that the year I graduated is the year they started a program. It's such a full circle moment for me. I've always been to the rink, I've watched the club team play, and I've always said that I wanted to play here. As soon as they announced it, I was beyond excited."
The timing was impeccable for Roman, who was a junior at The Tatnall School in Wilmington when Delaware made the announcement it was adding ice hockey as its 22nd varsity intercollegiate program in December 2023. The inaugural season was set to be played in 2025-26, which aligned perfectly with her graduation from Tatnall and anticipated freshman season.
"I always knew I wanted to play Division I hockey," Roman said. "That was the goal, and I always assumed I'd have to go far from home. Once I realized that I could potentially stay close by at a school that I know I would love, I knew that I had to set my mind to that and work my butt off to get here."
Roman was one of three girls suiting up for Tatnall's boy's hockey team, which played its home games at Fred Rust, while also playing club hockey for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers and the New Jersey Colonials. Last summer, she reached out and initiated the recruiting process with Delaware Head Coach Allison Coomey.
"I kind of started the process, and I was talking to Coach Coomey for a while," Roman said. "I just wanted to introduce myself and told her I was local. There are not many ice hockey players from Delaware, but I just wanted to let her know that I was there and I was really interested. I played defense and then changed positions to forward, so then they started looking at me as forward. I love playing forward and I'm so excited to do that here."
Delaware's inaugural roster features 22 student-athletes, including 17 freshmen. Other than senior goalie Sydney Butler, who spent the last three years on UD's women's club hockey team, none of the new Blue Hens had set foot on campus. With seven international players and other teammates from as far as Arizona, Utah, Kansas and Minnesota, Roman has stepped up as the de facto hometown kid, showing her teammates, and even coaches, all that Delaware has to offer.
"It's honestly the simple things like knowing where to go to eat," Roman said. "Most people didn't even know what Wawa was so we had to show them. A bunch of my teammates had to travel across the country, so they shipped their dorm stuff to my house, and my family and I brought that over to campus. And then just helping the coaches pick up people from the airport."
Now that Roman and the rest of her teammates are fully moved into campus and nearly a month into official practices, it is time to put in the work. While she is one of the smaller players out on the ice, Roman hopes her scrappy style of play can contribute to the team's success.
"I'm an aggressive player," Roman said. "I grew up playing boys hockey, so that played a role in the physicality in my game. I'm very much play full steam ahead. Forecheck, go get the puck, and I love contact. I think the player that I probably relate to most is Brad Marchand. I do really appreciate his effort. He's always out there working his butt off, and that's what I strive to do. Most of his goals are scored just solely from outworking the people on the ice and that's what I want to do. I want to outwork everyone and just go as hard as I can every single shift, every game."
With the season just a few days away, Roman is excited to finally wear the Blue & Gold and represent the University she grew up adoring. She understands the impact of having a Division I women's ice hockey team in Delaware will have and what it means for those following in her footsteps from the First State.
"It's definitely the most personal thing that I'm very excited about," Roman said. "I mean, growing up in Delaware, there was never women's hockey here. I had to go really far to watch someone play. And now the girls that are younger than me, they have a place to come where they can watch and they can see in action what they want and what they can strive for."
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For the latest on Delaware ice hockey, follow the Blue Hens on X, Instagram, and like on Facebook.
Roman was born and raised in the First State, growing up in nearby Hockessin. A rink rat most of her life, she was constantly at Fred Rust Ice Arena, Delaware's home rink, playing youth hockey herself or watching relatives play for UD's men's club programs. Roman's dad, grandfather, two uncles and two cousins all attended the University of Delaware. Roman is wearing No. 21 this season in honor of her late uncle, Tim Roman, who played club hockey at UD. Her older cousins, Tyler and Zach Swift, also played for the club program.
"It's really a dream come true," Roman said. "I mean, Newark feels like home, it always has. I've grown up around here, and it's so incredible that the year I graduated is the year they started a program. It's such a full circle moment for me. I've always been to the rink, I've watched the club team play, and I've always said that I wanted to play here. As soon as they announced it, I was beyond excited."
The timing was impeccable for Roman, who was a junior at The Tatnall School in Wilmington when Delaware made the announcement it was adding ice hockey as its 22nd varsity intercollegiate program in December 2023. The inaugural season was set to be played in 2025-26, which aligned perfectly with her graduation from Tatnall and anticipated freshman season.
"I always knew I wanted to play Division I hockey," Roman said. "That was the goal, and I always assumed I'd have to go far from home. Once I realized that I could potentially stay close by at a school that I know I would love, I knew that I had to set my mind to that and work my butt off to get here."
Roman was one of three girls suiting up for Tatnall's boy's hockey team, which played its home games at Fred Rust, while also playing club hockey for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers and the New Jersey Colonials. Last summer, she reached out and initiated the recruiting process with Delaware Head Coach Allison Coomey.
"I kind of started the process, and I was talking to Coach Coomey for a while," Roman said. "I just wanted to introduce myself and told her I was local. There are not many ice hockey players from Delaware, but I just wanted to let her know that I was there and I was really interested. I played defense and then changed positions to forward, so then they started looking at me as forward. I love playing forward and I'm so excited to do that here."
Delaware's inaugural roster features 22 student-athletes, including 17 freshmen. Other than senior goalie Sydney Butler, who spent the last three years on UD's women's club hockey team, none of the new Blue Hens had set foot on campus. With seven international players and other teammates from as far as Arizona, Utah, Kansas and Minnesota, Roman has stepped up as the de facto hometown kid, showing her teammates, and even coaches, all that Delaware has to offer.
"It's honestly the simple things like knowing where to go to eat," Roman said. "Most people didn't even know what Wawa was so we had to show them. A bunch of my teammates had to travel across the country, so they shipped their dorm stuff to my house, and my family and I brought that over to campus. And then just helping the coaches pick up people from the airport."
Now that Roman and the rest of her teammates are fully moved into campus and nearly a month into official practices, it is time to put in the work. While she is one of the smaller players out on the ice, Roman hopes her scrappy style of play can contribute to the team's success.
"I'm an aggressive player," Roman said. "I grew up playing boys hockey, so that played a role in the physicality in my game. I'm very much play full steam ahead. Forecheck, go get the puck, and I love contact. I think the player that I probably relate to most is Brad Marchand. I do really appreciate his effort. He's always out there working his butt off, and that's what I strive to do. Most of his goals are scored just solely from outworking the people on the ice and that's what I want to do. I want to outwork everyone and just go as hard as I can every single shift, every game."
With the season just a few days away, Roman is excited to finally wear the Blue & Gold and represent the University she grew up adoring. She understands the impact of having a Division I women's ice hockey team in Delaware will have and what it means for those following in her footsteps from the First State.
"It's definitely the most personal thing that I'm very excited about," Roman said. "I mean, growing up in Delaware, there was never women's hockey here. I had to go really far to watch someone play. And now the girls that are younger than me, they have a place to come where they can watch and they can see in action what they want and what they can strive for."
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Delaware ice hockey, follow the Blue Hens on X, Instagram, and like on Facebook.
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