NEW YORK – Connecticut’s Sophie Hamilton was named Field Hockey BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, while Defensive Player of the Year honors went to freshman goalie Azul Iritxity Irigoyen from Liberty. Irigoyen along with UConn’s Claire van den Noort and Old Dominion’s Marlon de Bruijne shared Co-Freshman of the Year honors.
The Liberty coaching staff, led by Nikki Parsley-Blocker, earned Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. It is the first coaching staff accolade for the Lady Flames, who finished second in the league at 10-2 and was the first team to defeat Connecticut in conference play since 2013. Parsley-Blocker was named head coach of the Lady Flames in 2017.
Hamilton is Connecticut’s 12th BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year since 1997 when Player of the Year was split into positions. Hamilton, a sophomore midfielder from Bruton, England, led the BIG EAST in points per game as she averaged 4.22 with 13 goals and 12 assists through nine games. Hamilton’s assist total was also a BIG EAST best this season in conference play. Overall, Hamilton scored 15 goals and assisted 13 and she averaged also a league-best 4.30 points per game. The sophomore led the conference in assists per game with 1.30 and in goals per game she ranked second (1.50). As a team, UConn led the BIG EAST in scoring margin (6.00), scoring average (7.00), goals scored (4.67) and total goals (42) with an 8-1 conference record to earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Field Hockey Championship Presented by JEEP. Hamilton was also one of the three unanimous selections to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Last year, she was one of the two freshmen on the BIG EAST First Team.
Liberty’s Iritxity Irigoyen is the Lady Flames’ third Defensive Player of the Year honoree. She joins the list of Ashley Dykema (2019) and Serena Barr (2016). Iritxity Irigoyen, a freshman from Buenos Aires, Argentina, standout rookie season as she was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the week four consecutive times from March 1-22. She was earned National Defensive Player of the Week accolades on March 24. Iritxity Irigoyen started in all contest for Liberty, marking three shutouts in 11 games, averaging 4.18 saves per game and a 1.66 goals against average. Her save percentage of .807 led the BIG EAST, helping the Lady Flames to a 10-2 record. Through all 14 games, Iritxity Irigoyen led the BIG EAST in saves (63) and save percentage (.818), she also ranked second in saves per game (4.50) and third in shutouts (3 total, 0.21 per game). Iritxity Irigoyen is also one of the three honorees for Freshman of the Year and was voted to the All-BIG EAST First Team.
Sharing Freshman of the Year honors with Iritxity Irigoyen is UConn’s van den Noort and Old Dominion’s de Bruijne. van den Noort is UConn’s ninth Freshman of the Year; de Bruijne is Old Dominion’s second. The BIG EAST did not award Freshman of the Year accolades from 2001-2010.
van den Noort, from Baricum, Netherlands, plays midfield/defense for UConn. She started in seven of eight games played for the Huskies. She helped a Connecticut defense that led the league in goals against average (0.90), shutouts (0.80). Opponents scored just six goals against the UConn defense with just 27 shots on goal, 33 overall. van den Noort also scored four goals and assisted seven for 15 points, which ranked fourth on the Huskies scoring leaderboard. van den Noort was voted to the All-BIG EAST Second Team.
de Bruijne from Den Bosch, Netherlands led Old Dominion in points with 28 on 13 goals and two assists. The forward started all 12 games as the Monarchs went 8-4 overall, 8-3 in conference play. de Bruijne led the BIG EAST in shots per game (6.27) and shots (69). She was third in points per game (2.55) and points (28). In goals scoring through league games, she tied with Hamilton with 13 and was second in goals per game (1.18). The freshman also scored three game-winners for the Monarchs. de Bruijne was the Play Safe/NFHCA Division I Offensive Player of the Week on March 3. For her efforts this season, de Bruijne was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team.
Along with UConn’s Hamilton, Old Dominion sophomore Delphine Le Jeune and Liberty sophomore Daniella Rhodes were also unanimous selections to the All-BIG EAST First Team, which was announced on Wednesday along with the regular season awards and All-BIG EAST Second Team.
The BIG EAST regular season awards and all-conference teams are voted on by the league’s head coaches, who cannot cast ballots for their own players. The All-BIG EAST first and second teams are voted on by position with four at-large selections. This year, there were ties in the balloting for both the first and second teams.
See below for the complete list of all-conference players.
BIG EAST Field Hockey Major Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Sophie Hamilton, Connecticut, So., M
Defensive Player of the Year
Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Liberty, Fr., GK
Co-Freshmen of the Year
Claire van den Noort, Connecticut, Fr., B
Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Liberty, Fr., GK
Marlon de Bruijne, Old Dominion, Fr., F
Coaching Staff of the Year
Liberty
First Team *
Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Liberty, Fr., GK
Kourtney Kennedy, UConn, Sr., B
Delphine Le Jeune, Old Dominion, So., B/M ^
Veronika Novakova, Temple, Grad/Sr., M
Sophie Hamilton, UConn, So., M ^
Madison Babineau, Providence, Sr., M
Jess Dembrowski, UConn, Sr., F
Jill Bolton, Liberty, Sr., F
Jodie Connolly, Liberty, So., F
Daniella Rhodes, Liberty, So., F ^
Charlotte Vaanhold, Liberty, Jr., F
Marlon de Bruijne, Old Dominion, Fr., F
Second Team *
Cheyenne Sprecher, UConn, Jr., GK
Cristina Carotenuto, Temple, Sr., GK
Lindsay Dickinson, UConn, Jr., B
Claire van den Noort, UConn, Fr., B
Bethany Dykema, Liberty, So., B
Marlee McClendon, Old Dominion, R-Sr., B
Jessie Halley, Quinnipiac, Jr., CB
Nienke Oerlemans, Temple, Jr., D
Sabine Deruijter, Villanova, Fr., B
Nicole Fredricks, Old Dominion, So., B
Rina Tsioles, Old Dominion, Fr., M
Kaitlyn Cummins, Temple, Fr., M
Riley Taylor, Old Dominion, Jr., F
Meghan Mitchell, Villanova, Fr., F
* there are extra members on the all-conference teams due to a tie in voting
^ denotes unanimous selection