GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Twenty-two student-athletes were honored on Wednesday as part of the 2017 Field Hockey All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team, as announced by ACC Commissioner John Swofford.
Headlining the All-ACC Team are Virginia’s Tara Vittese, the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, and North Carolina’s Ashley Hoffman, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Virginia’s Pien Dicke was voted as the ACC Freshman of the Year, while Virginia’s Michele Madison garnered ACC Coach of the Year accolades.
The All-ACC Team and the four individual awards are decided by a vote of the league’s seven head coaches.
A two-time NFHCA National Player of the Year, Vittese was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, the first player to win two straight since Maryland’s Katie O’Donnell in 2009-10. The senior midfielder from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, ranks second in the country in goals per game (1.33) and points per game (3.44), and is eighth with 0.78 assists per game.
Hoffman, the second straight Tar Heel to be named Defensive Player of the Year after Julia Young last season, was a key contributor for North Carolina on both ends of the field. The junior midfielder and back from Mohnton, Pennsylvania, started all 17 games and led the team in minutes played, while ranking eighth in the ACC in points and tied for seventh in goals.
A freshman midfielder from Den Haag, Netherlands, Dicke finished her first collegiate season with 1.17 goals per game and 2.67 points per game, both of which ranked second in the conference and in the top 10 nationally. Dicke joins Vittese (2014), Lucy Hyams (2013), and Paige Selenski (2008) as Cavaliers to win the award in the last decade.
Madison led the Cavaliers to the ACC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Championship with a 5-1 record, the first regular season title for Virginia since 2014. She is the first Cavalier coach to win the award since Missi Sanders in 1997.
Vittese earned her fourth career All-ACC honor, the 14
th player in the 35-year history of ACC Field Hockey to be a four-time honoree.
Three more players earned their third career recognition: Louisville’s Nicole Woods, and Syracuse’s Roos Weers and Laura Hurff.
All seven of the league’s teams are represented on the All-ACC squads, led by five student-athletes from Duke.
The 2017 ACC Field Hockey Championship gets underway Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky. Thursday’s quarterfinals are scheduled for 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 4 p.m., and the semifinals will be at noon and 2:30 p.m. on Friday. The championship will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. All six games of the championship will be broadcast on RSN and ACC Network Extra.
2017 ACC Field Hockey Individual Honors
Offensive Player of the Year – Tara Vittese, Virginia
Defensive Player of the Year – Ashley Hoffman, North Carolina
Freshman of the Year – Pien Dicke, Virginia
Coach of the Year – Michele Madison, Virginia
2017 All-ACC Field Hockey Teams
First Team
Alyssa Chillano, Sr., D, Duke @
Margaux Paolino, So., M, Duke
Nicole Woods, Sr., M, Louisville #
Ayeisha McFerran, Jr., GK, Louisville @
Eva van't Hoog, Jr., M, North Carolina @
Ashley Hoffman, Jr., D, North Carolina
Lies Lagerweij, Sr., D, Syracuse @
Pien Dicke, Fr., F, Virginia
Tara Vittese, Sr., M, Virginia %
Jule Grashoff, Jr., F, Wake Forest @
Nicola Pluta, So., F, Wake Forest @
Second Team
Ymke Rose Gote, Jr., M, Boston College @
Frederique Haverhals, Jr., D, Boston College @
Rose Tynan, Jr., F, Duke
Alexa Mackintire, Sr., M, Duke
Sammi Steele, r-So., GK, Duke
Taylor Stone, Jr., D, Louisville
Minout Mink, So., F, Louisville @
Malin Evert, Jr., M, North Carolina @
Roos Weers, Jr., D, Syracuse #
Laura Hurff, Sr., M, Syracuse #
Dominique van Slooten, So., D, Virginia
@ Two-time honoree, # Three-time honoree, % Four-time honoree