Trio of Dartmouth Players Earn Field Hockey All-Ivy Honors

PRINCETON, N.J. – Three members of the Dartmouth field hockey team were honored by the conference office with 2015 All-Ivy League honors as announced Monday morning.

Seniors Eliza Becker, Rebecca Hu and Brooke Van Valkenburg were all recognized for their play this fall by the Ancient Eight's head coaches. Becker was named a member of the first team, while Hu and Van Valkenburg each earned their first career conference honors with spots on the second team.

For Becker — a Lawrenceville, New Jersey, native — the recognition was her second annual Ivy award after earning second-team honors as a sophomore in 2013. This year, though, Becker took her game to a whole new level as she set career highs in goals (6), assists (14) and points (26). Her 14 assists this fall ranked second in the Ivy League with five coming in conference games, while the point total was second on the team.

In her final game in a Dartmouth uniform, Becker had a goal and an assist Saturday at home against Cornell.

After being granted a fifth year, Hu exploded on the offensive end of the field in 2015. Coming into the year, the Skillman, New Jersey, native, had just one goal and eight points to her credit in 51 career games, figures she blew away this fall.

Hu notched a team-leading 13 goals and 31 points in her second season as captain. Her point total ranked fifth amongst all Ivy players this season, while the 13 goals were the fourth-best number in the conference. She had points in 14-of-17 games this season, including an assist on Saturday against the Big Red in her final game playing for Dartmouth. Hu also had five assists, setting a new career high and coming up one short of matching her output from the previous three-plus years.

Like Hu, the league's head coaches honored Van Valkenburg with an All-Ivy spot for the first time in her career in 2015.

The Garden City, New York, native nearly tripled her single-season high in points as a senior with 24 to her credit this fall. Van Valkenburg had her best season yet with three goals, three assists and nine points a year ago as a junior in 2014. However, those career marks stood for just one offseason as she scored nine goals, dished out six assists and finished third on the team in scoring with 24 points this year.

Her 14 points in seven league games was second behind only Princeton's Maddie Copeland, the recipient of this year's Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year award. Additionally, two of Van Valkenburg's three game-winning goals this season came in league play, tying her for third.

As mentioned, Copeland took home the honor as the conference's top offensive player as voted on by the coaches. Princeton — the league champion — also saw Sophia Tornetta win Rookie of the Year and Kristen Holmes-Winn named the Coach of the Year once again.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Maddie Copeland, Princeton (Sr., F – Cranbury, N.J.)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Marisa Siergiej, Cornell (Sr., D – Harrison City, Pa.)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Sophia Tornetta, Princeton (Fr., M – Plymouth Meeting, Pa.)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Kristen Holmes-Winn, Princeton

FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
*Maddie Copeland, Princeton (Sr., F – Cranbury, N.J.)
Alexa Hoover, Penn (So., F – Collegeville, Pa.)
Elizabeth Jacobson, Harvard (Sr., F – Branchburg, N.J.)
Eliza Becker, Dartmouth (Sr., M – Lawrenceville, N.J.)
*Christina Freibott, Columbia (Sr., M – Wilmington, Del.)
Sophia Tornetta, Princeton (Fr., M – Plymouth Meeting, Pa.)
Katy Weeks, Cornell (Jr., M – Kenilworth, Ill.)
Maeve Doherty, Columbia (So., D – Millersville, Md.)
*Marisa Siergiej, Cornell (Sr., D – Harrison City, Pa.)
Elise Wong, Princeton (Fr., D – Lake Forest, Ill.)
*Emilie Katz, Yale (Jr., GK – Newton, Mass.)

SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY^
Marissa Balleza, Harvard (Jr., F – Severna Park, Md.)
Elizabeth Hitti, Penn (Sr., F – Ashland, Mass.)
Rebecca Hu, Dartmouth (Sr., F – Skillman, N.J.)
Krysten Mayers, Cornell (So., F – Parsippany, N.J.)
Ryan McCarthy, Princeton (So., F – Madison, N.J.)
Carol Middough, Yale (So., F – Oceanport, N.J.)
Katie Ruesterholz, Columbia (Jr., F – New York)
Teresa Benvenuti, Princeton (Sr., M – Morristown, N.J.)
Cat Caro, Princeton (Jr., M – Bridgewater, N.J.)
Alexis Miller, Brown (Sr., M – Caldwell, N.J.)
Elise Tilton, Penn (Jr., M – Bangor, Maine)
Katarina Angus, Brown (Jr., D – West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Kyla Cordrey, Harvard (Jr., D – Summit, N.J.)
Brooke Van Valkenburg, Dartmouth (Sr., D – Garden City, N.Y.)
Kimberly Pianucci, Columbia (Sr., GK – Glen Gardner, N.J.)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Hannah Rogers, Brown (Sr., F – Los Altos, Calif.)
Kathleen Young, Harvard (Fr., F – Essex Junction, Vt.)
Selena Garzio, Penn (Fr., M – Hazelton, Pa.)
Nicole Wells, Yale (Jr., M – Bryn Mawr, Pa.)
Anya Gersoff, Princeton (Sr., GK – Greenwood Village, Colo.)
Issy Davies, Harvard (Sr., GK – Worcester, England)
*-unanimous selection
^-Due to ties in the voting, the All-Ivy second team was expanded from 11

Schedules