2024 Field Hockey Postseason Honors

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference released its individual award winners, All-Big Ten teams, All-Freshman Team and Sportsmanship Award recipients for field hockey Wednesday on the eve of the 2024 Big Ten Tournament.

Northwestern collected four individual awards and led all schools with seven all-conference selections. This was also the first year an All-Freshman Team was chosen. Voting was conducted by conference head coaches.

Maddie Zimmer of Northwestern was a unanimous selection as Player of the Year, Ashley Sessa of Northwestern was chosen Offensive Player of the Year and Josie Hollamon of Maryland tabbed Defensive Player of the Year. Northwestern’s Annabel Skubisz earned the Goalkeeper of the Year Award as a unanimous selection and Michigan State’s Carmen Pucheta received Freshman of the Year honors. Tracey Fuchs of Northwestern was named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Zimmer has not missed a beat since returning to the Wildcats after spending a year training with the U.S. National Team. The senior midfielder exceled at both ends of the field for a Northwestern squad that outscored opponents, 66-10, during the regular season. Averaging over a point per game (1.16), Zimmer is the first Wildcat to be named Player of the Year since 1994.

Sessa is the overall leader in points (53) and a co-leader in goals (20) among her Big Ten peers — totals that rank first and second respectively in the NCAA. In Big Ten play, she produced a conference-best 10 goals and 24 points in eight games. The sophomore forward is in her first season at NU after transferring from North Carolina.

A two-year starter, Hollamon has anchored a defense that hasn’t allowed more than two goals in a game this season. At the same time, the Terrapins rank fourth in NCAA goals-against (0.87), having registered six shutouts. Hollamon becomes the fourth Maryland player to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Skubisz has produced an 18-0 record along with 11 shutouts for the No.1-ranked Wildcats. She leads the country in save percentage (.885) and ranks second in goals-against average (0.51). She has been named Goalkeeper of the Year in both years of the award’s existence.

Pucheta earned starts in all 18 games, scoring the game-winning goal in Michigan State’s 2-1 overtime victory over 16th-ranked Iowa on Oct. 25. She is the first Spartan to capture the Freshman of the Year Award since 2007 and is the school’s fourth recipient overall.

Fuchs receives her third Coach of the Year Award. Now in her 16th season at Northwestern, Fuchs led her team to the first undefeated regular season in program history and a No. 1 ranking in the NFHCA National Coaches Poll. NU captured its second-straight Big Ten regular season title while extending its conference win streak to 19 matches.

Eight players on the All-Big Ten First Team were unanimous picks — Zimmer, Sessa, Skubisz and teammate Lauren Wadas along with Maryland’s Hope Rose, Michigan’s Abby Tamer, Ohio State’s Makenna Webster and Sophia Gladieux of Penn State.  Gladieux makes history as the first field hockey player to earn all-conference first team honors five-straight seasons.

The Big Ten also recognized nine Sportsmanship Award winners. The award is given to student-athletes at each institution who distinguish themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students of good academic standing have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

Listed below are this year’s award honorees:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Maddie Zimmer, Sr., M, Northwestern +

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ashley Sessa, So., F, Northwestern

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Josie Hollamon, So., B, Maryland

GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR
Annabel Skubisz, Gr., GK, Northwestern +

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Carmen Pucheta, Fr., M, Michigan State

COACH OF THE YEAR
Tracey Fuchs, Northwestern

+ unanimous selections