NFHCA Honors 15 Blue Hens as Academic Squad Recipients

Photo by: Mark Campbell

NFHCA Honors 15 Blue Hens as Academic Squad Recipients

3/10/2020 2:25:00 PM | Field Hockey

GILBERT, Ariz. – The NFHCA handed out its annual academic honors Tuesday and named 15 University of Delaware field hockey student-athletes to its National Academic Squad for their work in the classroom.

The 2019 ZAG Field Hockey/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad recognizes individuals who have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher during the first semester of the 2019-20 academic year, which is arguably the busiest time of the year for the student-athletes as they are amidst their championship season.

"Congratulations to our field hockey student-athletes and program! I know our coaching and support staff are very proud of our team's academic accomplishments during the 2019 fall season/semester," remarked head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof.

Delaware has had at least a dozen student-athletes recognized in six of the last seven seasons.

Honorees include Lotte de Koning, Lizzie Gaebel, Sophie Giezeman, Becca Harbert, Grace Hoepfner, Sarah Horgan, Ashley Iannuzzi, Sarah Iannuzzi, Sydney Keld, Emily Kresho, Kerri McClay, Grace Miller, Morgan Rigual, Milan Spooren and Femke Strien. Horgan finishes her illustrious career as a four-year recipient of the award.

"Our Blue Hens continue to show what it is to be true student-athletes as they commit to their academic and athletic performances every semester again," Van de Kerkhof exclaimed. "They showcase what this program believes in and has as expectations of its student-athletes; competing for excellence in the classroom and on the field. In my opinion, one of the reasons why our team competes for championships every season, is because the level of academic maturity and intelligence of our players group as well as understanding of teamwork. Good learners make better players and better players put teams in the position to improve throughout the season and play their best on-field hockey when it matters; when championships are up for grabs."

Earlier this month the NFHCA honored the Blue Hens for the ninth straight season under Van de Kerkhof and his staff as a National Academic Team.

Van de Kerkhof continued, "Thanks to the academic performances of current and previous field hockey student-athletes our program can celebrate nine straight years of NFHCA National Academic Team Award recognition. In recent years our number of student-athlete with a cumulative GPA of a 3.30 has nicely improved and allows us to celebrate about two-thirds of the team being named to the NFHCA Division 1 National Academic Squad. Congratulations to those Blue Hens!"