GILBERT, Ariz. – Five BIG EAST field hockey players earned National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Longstreth All-America honors, headlined by first team honoree and BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year Svea Boker.
Joining Boker on the All-America teams was Liberty’s Ashley Dykema on the Second Team and Liberty’s Jill Bolton, Old Dominion’s Rebecca Birch and Connecticut’s Sophie Hamilton on the third team.
Boker landed on the All-American First Team after leading the Huskies with 21 goals, 55 points, 91 shots and four game-winning goals. Her 21 goals and 55 points both ranked No. 4 in the country. The Bremen, Germany native earned BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors along with earning BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player accolades after scoring two goals in the BIG EAST Championship game. Boker was a First Team All-Conference performer and finishes her career all over the UConn record books with her 55 career assists (3rd), 163 points (5th) and 55 goals (8th) while winning the 2017 National Championship with a perfect 23-0 record. Boker was also the NFHCA Mideast Region Player of the Year.
Hamilton garnered third team status after a great first season in Storrs. She secured First Team All-Big East and NFHCA Mideast All-Region accolades while starting all 23 games for the Huskies as a freshman. The midfielder ranked second on the team in goals (9), assists (14) and points (32) and highlighted her first season at UConn with a game-winning goal against No. 25 Fairfield in the NCAA First Round.
Dykema, an All-South Region first team honoree, earned BIG EAST Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors this fall as well as All-BIG EAST first team status. The junior defender led a Liberty defense which recorded seven shutouts in 2019, finished No. 6 in the nation in shutouts per game (0.39) and placed No. 24 in the country in goals-against-average (1.42). The Newport News, Va., native competed in 17 games for Liberty, scoring one goal to go along with four assists and six points.
Bolton, also an All-South Region first team selection, garnered an All-BIG EAST first team distinction for a third straight year. The junior forward started all 18 games for Liberty this season, finishing second in goals (9), assists (5) and points (23). The Souderton, Pa., native continued her move up the Liberty field hockey record books as well. Bolton ranks sixth in school history with 28 career goals and is also the program's active career points leader with 70, which places her seventh in school history.
Birch was also unanimously named First Team All-BIG EAST, First Team Longstreth/NFHCA All-South Region and she was selected to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team. One of two captains on the Monarchs, Birch started all 18 games at center back, leading the ODU defense to five shutout victories on the season while also leading the team in goals and points, with nine and 25, respectively. During the season, she was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor roll five times and won BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week on September 16.
Birch was also named an alternate to the Victory Sports Tours/NFHCA Senior Game, which took place on November 22nd on the campus of Wake Forest during the NCAA Division I Tournament. Birch is the first All-American the ODU field hockey program has had since the 2015 season, when Sarah Breenr was named a Second Team All-American.
The NFHCA honored 48 Division I field hockey student-athletes with first, second, or third team All-America recognition. There were 34 first-time honorees, 11 second-time honorees, two third-time honorees and one four-time honoree. The final award to be given out will be the First Point USA/NFHCA National Player of the Year, next Monday.
See below for the list of Longstreth/NFHCA All-Region honorees, listed alphabetically by school within the all-region first and second teams. All of the BIG EAST Conference teams were represented on the all-region honoree lists with nine on the first team and seven on the second team.
Longstreth/NFHCA All-Region First Team
Svea Boker, Connecticut, Forward (Mideast Region)
Sophie Hamilton, Connecticut, Forward (Mideast Region)
Cheyenne Sprecher, Connecticut, Goalkeeper (Mideast Region)
Jill Bolton, Liberty, Forward (South Region)
Ashley Dykema, Liberty, Defender/Midfielder (South Region)
Daniella Rhodes, Liberty, Forward (South Region)
Rebecca Birch, Old Dominion, Defender (South Region)
Corinne Kenney, Providence, Defender (Northeast Region)
Mary O’Reilly, Providence, Midfielder (Northeast Region)
Longstreth/NFHCA All-Region Second Team
Abby Gooderham, Connecticut, Midfielder (Mideast Region)
Antonia Tiedtke, Connecticut, Defender (Mideast Region)
Erin Huffman, Old Dominion, Forward (South Region)
Izzy Mendez, Providence, Forward/Midfielder (Northeast Region)
Bianca Strubbe, Quinnipiac, Midfielder (Mideast Region)
Danielle Batze, Temple, Defender (Mid-Atlantic Region)
Lydia Sydnor, Villanova, Forward (Mid-Athletic Region)