From Paris to the Podium: Ashley Sessa’s Legacy in the Making
Olympian, NCAA Champion, and All-American Ashley Sessa reflects on her incredible career, Northwestern’s winning culture, and the moments that define her as a Wildcat.
Ashley Sessa is an Olympian, NCAA Champion, and All-American. In October 2025, she received her third NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week honor following her combined eight-point performance against No. 13 Michigan and No. 18 Ohio State. Her game-winner against the Wolverines earned the Wildcats the Big Ten Championship.
We caught up with Sessa to hear about her experiences as an Olympian, collegiate champion, and at Northwestern. ⬇️
Andrew McDevitt (Host): Welcome Northwestern junior Ashley Sessa, national champion and Olympian. Ashley, does it ever get old having those two titles attached to your name?
Not at all. It's a little surreal.
Big Ten regular season champs again for Northwestern this year. You guys locked it up with a couple of games to play. Is it challenging to stay engaged throughout the remainder of the season, or is that what you expect from your caliber of program, especially with that caliber of head coach?
We never get complacent at all. It never gets old. I think our team does very well, staying in the moment, not thinking too far ahead. I know when we played Michigan, half of our team didn't even know that that was for [the] Big Ten regular season [championship]. We just go out there, do our best, and compete.
Those standards have contributed to 10 of your 15 wins being by shutout this year. What is it about your team that has been so successful on both sides of the field?
We have very strong people in each of [our] lines that make the team so successful. As of now, our forward line, we have Olivia Bent-Cole and Grace [Schultze], who are just insane on the press. They hold it down up there, and then we have amazing midfielders like Laura [Salamanca] is playing amazing so far, and then obviously our backline is one of our strongest. We have Maja [Zivojnovic], Kerry [McCormick], Ilse [Tromp], and then Yules [Juliana Boon] in the back, who has had a bunch of defensive players of the week so far. Them just being back there makes us so confident to do our job in the front because we know they're going to kill it in the back.
It seems like this group is particularly close. What is it about your team that made you guys bond together so early on and have so much success?
Our team culture is definitely something we work very hard on. We don't just hang out on the field, we try and make the time to hang out outside of classes [and] field hockey. Off the field, we're each other's best friends, and I think that's really important out there. We have the hard talks [about] how we can improve on the field... It all relies on how your culture is outside of the field. It correlates back.
You're doing a great job of deflecting and giving praise to your teammates, which is what I expected. But you're second in the conference in points this year. You're coming off a week where you scored one of the most unbelievable goals I think most of the country's ever seen. Just how have you been able to impress yourself this year in your junior season?
I like to compete with myself also, so I'm very hard on myself in practice and in games. A lot of the goals that you see, we practice it the day before in shooting drills. It’s insane how it correlates directly to how we play. I think what we do in practice is so important. If we treat that game-like, it's obviously going to come into the game, and I think we've seen that so far.
You've been on a ton of successful teams both at Northwestern and your previous stops in college as well as the national team. When did you know Northwestern was going to be your next stop? When, what made that the right fit for you?
This is kind of a funny story. I took a year off, I had no idea where I wanted to go, and – I told our head coach Tracey this all the time – but Northwestern wasn't on my list to go to school. It was my mom that was... pushing me to look at it. At first, I was like, “No, it's too cold." Just making up excuses, and then I actually found the time to come up here. I was up here for 20 hours, not even a full day, got off the flight 15 hours later, got back on another one. It was in the dead of winter, so I really got to feel how the campus was, and I think it was over Thanksgiving break, so there wasn't a lot of students here. Even though it was freezing cold, I still fell in love with the campus, I fell in love with the coaching staff, and I just felt at home right away. I think that's so important, your first initial reaction to the school, and I'm so happy I came here because this team is my family. I said it last year, the first couple of months I was here, I felt like I was here for a year so far. I met such amazing friends, not just on the field hockey team, but outside of the field hockey team. I think it is so important in the athletic community to build relationships with other athletes, and it's been incredible so far.
You mentioned your head coach, who was a part of your national team runs, as well as one of your teammates. How cool has it been to play alongside Maddie [Zimmer] not only at Northwestern, but also representing the USA?
It's been amazing so far. Maddie is a close friend of mine, so is Tracey. Getting to know them off the field, and also when I was in Charlotte training for the Olympics, it really brought us closer. I already had a relationship with them, but it was also great coming into [Northwestern] and building that same relationship with other teammates. I didn't know most of the team coming in, but Maddie spoke so highly of them, and I knew Olivia Bent-Cole. She sent me a picture before I came, and it was of my locker. I was a little late to preseason because of Paris, but it was something so simple, just taking a picture of it and [showing] “we're so excited for you to come here.” It already impacted me so much that she did something so little like that.
Paris, I have to bring it up, just how incredible of an experience was that? Was that something that you dreamed of when you were little?
I've always dreamt of going to the Olympics, no matter where it was. Paris happened to be the one, and it was an incredible experience. It also [showed me] how dedicated everyone is to their sport. It's not just playing, it's how much work you put in for years coming up to it. It wasn't just the year that we were training to go, it was our entire career and what we did to prepare for that moment. You do get a little bit of imposter syndrome because there are three-time gold medalists there and it's your first Olympics. But everyone's there for the exact same reason, and I met such amazing people.
And then you cap off that year with another national championship. I'm assuming that's the highlight. How do you top that year?
I don't think you can. That year was just incredible, and I'm so grateful and... very honored. To do it with the people you love and the people you're so close with... I wasn't doing it for myself. I wasn't doing it for anyone else, but I was doing it for my teammates, and I know they were doing it for everyone else. It was such a team event to do it. Everyone just wanted each other to have that moment, and I think it was so special for that to happen.
Northwestern is clearly a school that prioritizes women's sports, and a pair of women's sports brought home national championships last fall. How big or how important is it to you to be at a university that really does prioritize women's sports?
It's amazing to see how much they prioritize their female athletes. It's great because not a lot of universities do that, and it's so important to give them credit when credit's deserved.
One of my roommates was actually on the women's golf team, who also won a national championship, and I just remember sitting in our living room and screaming at the TV over golf. I've never watched golf like that before, and it was such an amazing experience. When they came back, everyone was outside waiting to greet them, and not just the female athletes. It was also the male athletes. Everyone was there, the AD was there. Mark Jackson always tries his best to come out to all of our games, which is so important. He doesn't just go out to football games. He was at our national championship. He was at our Villanova game in the middle of a season, [which was] not even in conference. It's so important for people to just show up.
Students love sports and they love athletes in general. Same with our lacrosse team, we're very close with them. We support them, they support us, and so on throughout the university. It's amazing to see.
You guys are striving to become back-to-back national champs. What would it mean for you to send your seniors out on that high note and really put a stamp on their career at Northwestern?
Obviously, that would be amazing. Right now, we're really looking at... the Big Ten Tournament. I think it's so important not to look ahead... just playing each game [one] at a time. If you look ahead, you're going to miss everything that's going on in front of [you], and there's amazing stuff happening there.
And a couple rapid fire for you.
Of course.
Your last game of the regular season is on Halloween. What's your favorite Halloween candy?
Oh, I'm a big Twix girl.
Candy corn, yes or no?
Absolutely not.
Favorite athlete growing up?
Simone Biles, even still to this day.
And you were in Paris with her. Did you get to meet her?
I walked by her a couple times. I was a little too scared to say hi. Starstruck.
Favorite Big Ten away field to play at.
Oh, away field. I like Michigan.
If something breaks in your apartment, which teammate would you call to try and fix it?
Olivia Bent-Cole.
Favorite spot on Northwestern campus.
Oh, I love university library. It's a beautiful atmosphere.
Your favorite memory as a Wildcat?
Probably winning the national championship last year.
Ashley, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining me. Good luck closing out the regular season and headed into postseason.
Yes, thank you so much.