diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/authentication/AttributePrincipalImpl.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/authentication/AttributePrincipalImpl.java
index c7ca08f..acc9823 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/authentication/AttributePrincipalImpl.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/authentication/AttributePrincipalImpl.java
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * Concrete implementation of the AttributePrincipal interface.
  *
  * @author Scott Battaglia
- * @version $Revision$ $Date$
  * @since 3.1
  */
 public class AttributePrincipalImpl extends SimplePrincipal implements AttributePrincipal {
@@ -80,7 +79,7 @@ public class AttributePrincipalImpl extends SimplePrincipal implements Attribute
     }
 
     /**
-     * Constructs a new principal witht he supplied name, attributes, and proxying capabilities.
+     * Constructs a new principal with the supplied name, attributes, and proxying capabilities.
      *
      * @param name the unique identifier for the principal.
      * @param attributes the key/value pairs for this principal.
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/proxy/Cas20ProxyRetriever.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/proxy/Cas20ProxyRetriever.java
index 42c21ef..a77b11f 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/proxy/Cas20ProxyRetriever.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/proxy/Cas20ProxyRetriever.java
@@ -18,12 +18,15 @@
  */
 package org.jasig.cas.client.proxy;
 
+import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpURLConnectionFactory;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.XmlUtils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLEncoder;
 
 /**
@@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ public final class Cas20ProxyRetriever implements ProxyRetriever {
     /** Unique Id for serialization. */
 	  private static final long serialVersionUID = 560409469568911791L;
 
-	/**
+	  /**
      * Instance of Commons Logging.
      */
     private final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.getClass());
@@ -55,39 +58,45 @@ public final class Cas20ProxyRetriever implements ProxyRetriever {
 
     private final String encoding;
 
+    /** Url connection factory to use when communicating with the server **/
+    private final HttpURLConnectionFactory urlConnectionFactory;
+    
     /**
      * Main Constructor.
      *
      * @param casServerUrl the URL to the CAS server (i.e. http://localhost/cas/)
      * @param encoding the encoding to use.
+     * @param urlFactory url connection factory use when retrieving proxy responses from the server
      */
-    public Cas20ProxyRetriever(final String casServerUrl, final String encoding) {
+    public Cas20ProxyRetriever(final String casServerUrl, final String encoding, final HttpURLConnectionFactory urlFactory) {
         CommonUtils.assertNotNull(casServerUrl, "casServerUrl cannot be null.");
         this.casServerUrl = casServerUrl;
         this.encoding = encoding;
+        this.urlConnectionFactory = urlFactory;
     }
-
-    public String getProxyTicketIdFor(final String proxyGrantingTicketId,
-                                      final String targetService) {
-
-        final String url = constructUrl(proxyGrantingTicketId, targetService);
-        final String response = CommonUtils.getResponseFromServer(url, this.encoding);
+    
+    public String getProxyTicketIdFor(final String proxyGrantingTicketId, final String targetService) {
+        CommonUtils.assertNotNull(proxyGrantingTicketId, "proxyGrantingTicketId cannot be null.");
+        CommonUtils.assertNotNull(targetService, "targetService cannot be null.");
+        
+        final URL url = constructUrl(proxyGrantingTicketId, targetService);
+        final String response = CommonUtils.getResponseFromServer(url, this.urlConnectionFactory, this.encoding);
         final String error = XmlUtils.getTextForElement(response, "proxyFailure");
-
+    
         if (CommonUtils.isNotEmpty(error)) {
             logger.debug(error);
             return null;
         }
-
+    
         return XmlUtils.getTextForElement(response, "proxyTicket");
     }
 
-    private String constructUrl(final String proxyGrantingTicketId, final String targetService) {
+    private URL constructUrl(final String proxyGrantingTicketId, final String targetService) {
         try {
-        	return this.casServerUrl + (this.casServerUrl.endsWith("/") ? "" : "/") + "proxy" + "?pgt="
-            + proxyGrantingTicketId + "&targetService="
-            + URLEncoder.encode(targetService, "UTF-8");
-        } catch (final UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
+            return new URL(this.casServerUrl + (this.casServerUrl.endsWith("/") ? "" : "/") + "proxy"
+                          + "?pgt=" + proxyGrantingTicketId 
+                          + "&targetService=" + URLEncoder.encode(targetService, "UTF-8"));
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
     }
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/URLConnectionFactory.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpURLConnectionFactory.java
similarity index 87%
rename from cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/URLConnectionFactory.java
rename to cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpURLConnectionFactory.java
index 45b7dd0..c3a33ce 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/URLConnectionFactory.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpURLConnectionFactory.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  */
 package org.jasig.cas.client.ssl;
 
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLConnection;
 
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ import java.net.URLConnection;
  * @author Misagh Moayyed
  * @since 3.3
  */
-public interface URLConnectionFactory {
+public interface HttpURLConnectionFactory {
     
     /**
      * Receives a {@link URLConnection} instance typically as a result of a {@link URL}
@@ -36,9 +37,9 @@ public interface URLConnectionFactory {
      * to accommodate method chaining.
      *  
      * @param url The url connection that needs to be configured
-     * @return The configured {@link URLConnection} instance
+     * @return The configured {@link HttpURLConnection} instance
      * 
      * @see {@link HttpsURLConnectionFactory}
      */
-    URLConnection getURLConnection(final URLConnection url);
+    HttpURLConnection buildHttpURLConnection(final URLConnection url);
 }
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpsURLConnectionFactory.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpsURLConnectionFactory.java
index 2fc3ed2..2475e5a 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpsURLConnectionFactory.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/ssl/HttpsURLConnectionFactory.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package org.jasig.cas.client.ssl;
 
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URLConnection;
 import java.security.KeyStore;
 import java.util.Properties;
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 /**
- * An implementation of the {@link URLConnectionFactory} whose responsible to configure
+ * An implementation of the {@link HttpURLConnectionFactory} whose responsible to configure
  * the underlying <i>https</i> connection, if needed, with a given hostname and SSL socket factory based on the
  * configuration provided. 
  * 
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
  * @see #setHostnameVerifier(HostnameVerifier)
  * @see #setSSLConfiguration(Properties)
  */
-public final class HttpsURLConnectionFactory implements URLConnectionFactory {
+public final class HttpsURLConnectionFactory implements HttpURLConnectionFactory {
 
     private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(HttpsURLConnectionFactory.class);
     
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ public final class HttpsURLConnectionFactory implements URLConnectionFactory {
         this.hostnameVerifier = verifier;
     }
 
-    public URLConnection getURLConnection(final URLConnection url) {
+    public HttpURLConnection buildHttpURLConnection(final URLConnection url) {
         return this.configureHttpsConnectionIfNeeded(url);
     }
     
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ public final class HttpsURLConnectionFactory implements URLConnectionFactory {
      *
      * @param conn the http connection
      */
-    private URLConnection configureHttpsConnectionIfNeeded(final URLConnection conn) {
+    private HttpURLConnection configureHttpsConnectionIfNeeded(final URLConnection conn) {
         if (conn instanceof HttpsURLConnection) {
             final HttpsURLConnection httpsConnection = (HttpsURLConnection) conn;
             final SSLSocketFactory socketFactory = this.createSSLSocketFactory();
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ public final class HttpsURLConnectionFactory implements URLConnectionFactory {
                 httpsConnection.setHostnameVerifier(this.hostnameVerifier);
             }
         }
-        return conn;
+        return (HttpURLConnection) conn;
     }
     
     /**
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java
index fe264ac..e754941 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/util/CommonUtils.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ package org.jasig.cas.client.util;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyGrantingTicketStorage;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpsURLConnectionFactory;
-import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.URLConnectionFactory;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpURLConnectionFactory;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.validation.ProxyList;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.validation.ProxyListEditor;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -329,11 +329,11 @@ public final class CommonUtils {
      * @param encoding the encoding to use.
      * @return the response.
      */
-    public static String getResponseFromServer(final URL constructedUrl, final URLConnectionFactory factory, final String encoding) {
+    public static String getResponseFromServer(final URL constructedUrl, final HttpURLConnectionFactory factory, final String encoding) {
 
-        URLConnection conn = null;
+        HttpURLConnection conn = null;
         try {
-            conn = factory.getURLConnection(constructedUrl.openConnection());
+            conn = factory.buildHttpURLConnection(constructedUrl.openConnection());
             
             final BufferedReader in;
 
@@ -355,26 +355,10 @@ public final class CommonUtils {
             LOGGER.error(e.getMessage(), e);
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         } finally {
-            if (conn != null && conn instanceof HttpURLConnection) {
-                ((HttpURLConnection)conn).disconnect();
+            if (conn != null) {
+                conn.disconnect();
             }
         }
-
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Contacts the remote URL and returns the response.
-     *
-     * @param url the url to contact.
-     * @param encoding the encoding to use.
-     * @return the response.
-     */
-    public static String getResponseFromServer(final String url, String encoding) {
-        try {
-            return getResponseFromServer(new URL(url), new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(), encoding);
-        } catch (final MalformedURLException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
-        }
     }
          
     public static ProxyList createProxyList(final String proxies) {
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator.java
index 6d7a71f..5410669 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator.java
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 package org.jasig.cas.client.validation;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpsURLConnectionFactory;
-import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.URLConnectionFactory;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpURLConnectionFactory;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator implements TicketValidator
      * URLConnection factory instance to use when making validation requests to the CAS server.
      * Defaults to {@link HttpsURLConnectionFactory}
      */
-    private URLConnectionFactory urlConnectionFactory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory();
+    private HttpURLConnectionFactory urlConnectionFactory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory();
     
     /**
      * Prefix for the CAS server.   Should be everything up to the url endpoint, including the /.
@@ -238,11 +238,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator implements TicketValidator
         return this.customParameters;
     }
 
-    protected URLConnectionFactory getURLConnectionFactory() {
+    protected HttpURLConnectionFactory getURLConnectionFactory() {
         return this.urlConnectionFactory;
     }
     
-    public void setURLConnectionFactory(final URLConnectionFactory urlConnectionFactory) {
+    public void setURLConnectionFactory(final HttpURLConnectionFactory urlConnectionFactory) {
         this.urlConnectionFactory = urlConnectionFactory;
     }
 }
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas10TicketValidationFilter.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas10TicketValidationFilter.java
index 47e6eb3..2e8424c 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas10TicketValidationFilter.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas10TicketValidationFilter.java
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ package org.jasig.cas.client.validation;
 import javax.servlet.FilterConfig;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpsURLConnectionFactory;
-import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.URLConnectionFactory;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpURLConnectionFactory;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of AbstractTicketValidatorFilter that instanciates a Cas10TicketValidator.
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public class Cas10TicketValidationFilter extends AbstractTicketValidationFilter
         final Cas10TicketValidator validator = new Cas10TicketValidator(casServerUrlPrefix);
         validator.setRenew(parseBoolean(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "renew", "false")));
         
-        final URLConnectionFactory factory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(getHostnameVerifier(filterConfig), getSSLConfig(filterConfig));
+        final HttpURLConnectionFactory factory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(getHostnameVerifier(filterConfig), getSSLConfig(filterConfig));
         validator.setURLConnectionFactory(factory);
         validator.setEncoding(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "encoding", null));
 
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter.java
index 45f5473..48935c5 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.*;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpsURLConnectionFactory;
-import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.URLConnectionFactory;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpURLConnectionFactory;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.ReflectUtils;
 
@@ -145,7 +145,11 @@ public class Cas20ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter extends AbstractTicketVal
         }
         validator.setProxyCallbackUrl(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "proxyCallbackUrl", null));
         validator.setProxyGrantingTicketStorage(this.proxyGrantingTicketStorage);
-        validator.setProxyRetriever(new Cas20ProxyRetriever(casServerUrlPrefix, getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "encoding", null)));
+        
+        final HttpURLConnectionFactory factory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(getHostnameVerifier(filterConfig), getSSLConfig(filterConfig));
+        validator.setURLConnectionFactory(factory);
+        
+        validator.setProxyRetriever(new Cas20ProxyRetriever(casServerUrlPrefix, getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "encoding", null), factory));
         validator.setRenew(parseBoolean(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "renew", "false")));
         validator.setEncoding(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "encoding", null));
 
@@ -161,9 +165,6 @@ public class Cas20ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter extends AbstractTicketVal
         }
 
         validator.setCustomParameters(additionalParameters);
-        final URLConnectionFactory factory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(getHostnameVerifier(filterConfig), getSSLConfig(filterConfig));
-        validator.setURLConnectionFactory(factory);
-
         return validator;
     }
 
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ServiceTicketValidator.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ServiceTicketValidator.java
index c626d6d..9c90eaf 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ServiceTicketValidator.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ServiceTicketValidator.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyGrantingTicketStorage;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyRetriever;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.XmlUtils;
-import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
 import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
@@ -41,7 +40,6 @@ import java.util.*;
  * Implementation of the TicketValidator that will validate Service Tickets in compliance with the CAS 2.
  *
  * @author Scott Battaglia
- * @version $Revision$ $Date$
  * @since 3.1
  */
 public class Cas20ServiceTicketValidator extends AbstractCasProtocolUrlBasedTicketValidator {
@@ -60,10 +58,11 @@ public class Cas20ServiceTicketValidator extends AbstractCasProtocolUrlBasedTick
      * CAS server url prefix.
      *
      * @param casServerUrlPrefix the CAS Server URL prefix.
+     * @param urlFactory URL connection factory to use when communicating with the server
      */
     public Cas20ServiceTicketValidator(final String casServerUrlPrefix) {
         super(casServerUrlPrefix);
-        this.proxyRetriever = new Cas20ProxyRetriever(casServerUrlPrefix, getEncoding());
+        this.proxyRetriever = new Cas20ProxyRetriever(casServerUrlPrefix, getEncoding(), getURLConnectionFactory());
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidationFilter.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidationFilter.java
index 30f5ae3..e35bf83 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidationFilter.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidationFilter.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import javax.servlet.FilterConfig;
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
 
 import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpsURLConnectionFactory;
-import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.URLConnectionFactory;
+import org.jasig.cas.client.ssl.HttpURLConnectionFactory;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of TicketValidationFilter that can instanciate a SAML 1.1 Ticket Validator.
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public class Saml11TicketValidationFilter extends AbstractTicketValidationFilter
         validator.setTolerance(Long.parseLong(tolerance));
         validator.setRenew(parseBoolean(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "renew", "false")));
         
-        final URLConnectionFactory factory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(getHostnameVerifier(filterConfig), getSSLConfig(filterConfig));
+        final HttpURLConnectionFactory factory = new HttpsURLConnectionFactory(getHostnameVerifier(filterConfig), getSSLConfig(filterConfig));
         validator.setURLConnectionFactory(factory);
         
         validator.setEncoding(getPropertyFromInitParams(filterConfig, "encoding", null));
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
index 0f97a94..7176a9d 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Saml11TicketValidator.java
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ public final class Saml11TicketValidator extends AbstractUrlBasedTicketValidator
         BufferedReader in = null;
         
         try {
-            conn = (HttpURLConnection) this.getURLConnectionFactory().getURLConnection(validationUrl.openConnection());
+            conn = this.getURLConnectionFactory().buildHttpURLConnection(validationUrl.openConnection());
             conn.setRequestMethod("POST");
             conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "text/xml"); 
             conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", Integer.toString(MESSAGE_TO_SEND.length()));
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyTicketValidatorTests.java b/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyTicketValidatorTests.java
index b374cae..ce6f415 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyTicketValidatorTests.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/test/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/Cas20ProxyTicketValidatorTests.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import org.jasig.cas.client.PublicTestHttpServer;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyGrantingTicketStorage;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyGrantingTicketStorageImpl;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyRetriever;
-import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;