Meet the Victory Press staff

Nicole Haase - Hi, I'm Nicole (she/her). I'm a freelance journalist that writes about sports, food and travel. I've been covering women's hockey since the early aughts when my now-husband took me to Wisconsin men's hockey games and I immediately asked why no one was talking about all the Olympians on the women's team. I grew up playing soccer in a pre-1999ers world and saw a lot of parallels in women's hockey. It became important to me to ensure that new generations of girls in hockey received the kind of coverage and attention my generation didn't get.

I love to travel, hike, learn new languages, read romance novels, listen to boybanders, sew, cook and bake (I have a pastry degree). I hope to visit all the US National Parks in my lifetime - so far I've been to 23. I have a silly, grumpy, hilarious, adorable basset hound named Ripley. Find me winding down with white wine, hard cider and always with salty-sweet treats (and yes I want recs).

Liz Koetting - Hi, I’m Liz (she/her)! I have a cat, I like to read, I’m in a MASSIVE pop girlie era. I work in real estate by day, and I’m one third of the This Is A Zine For Queer Professionals team. My current hyperfixations are putting too many holds on queer YA romance books at the library and making friendship bracelets to trade at events. And I love sports!

I’ve been a sports fan since I was a kid, thanks to an older brother who makes them his whole world. It started with professional wrestling, branched into baseball, then hockey, then basketball. I became obsessed with the narratives, and the stats, and the passion of the fans. Sports are the perfect blend of data for nerds and human interest for saps. As I am both a nerd and a sap, I’m hooked. Also I love getting to be overenthusiastic about things, and what better place for that than in sports fandom???

Sam Gray - I’m Sam (she/her)! I’m a storyteller and I work an unassuming corporate day job. As an only child with only myself to talk to, I grew up writing anything and everything. I love music, Diet Coke, and reading romance novels. I live in New Jersey with my husband and our dog, and I’m excited to write about something I care about: women.

In 2020 someone tricked me into becoming a hockey fan (I believe this is how most people become hockey fans). Aside from the general agita that sports draws out of you, hockey fandom gave me an appropriate environment to do one of the other things I love: be a hater. It's more than that, though. It's being a hater in a community.

I look forward to combining all these passions into stories for you. I’ve never done anything like this for an actual group of readers and I’m grateful to Nicole for the opportunity to stretch my writing muscles beyond vibes-based power rankings I force my friends to read. For now, I’ll be mostly covering the PWHL for Victory Press, with a little focus on the New York Sirens (did I mention I live in New Jersey?).