NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— Lily Santi of Saint Joseph’s was named the Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Year, and her teammate Freke van Tilburg was voted the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year in the league annual field hockey awards, which were released Wednesday. Freshman Mali Herberhold of Massachusetts was named the A-10 Rookie of the Year and Lock Haven’s Pat Rudy was selected as Coach of the Year.

The Atlantic 10 announced the four major awards along with the All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams ahead of the start of the 2022 A-10 Field Hockey Championship, which begins Thursday at the Gladchuk Field Hockey Complex in Amherst, Mass. The major awards, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the A-10’s head field hockey coaches. The All-Academic team was selected by the field hockey media relations directors.

Santi leads the A-10 in points (39) and goals (16), and is second in assists (7). She ranks seventh nationally in goals per game (.94) and eighth in points per game (2.29). A junior forward from Oceanport, N.J., she played in all 17 games for the Hawks this season, tallying five multi-goal games including two road hat tricks (at Saint Louis, at Davidson). Twice she recorded seven-point games, including a 5-0 road win over No. 8 Rutgers where she scored twice and had three assists to have a hand in every SJU goal. Santi was also named All-Conference First Team.

Van Tilburg anchors a Saint Joseph’s defense that did not allow a goal to be scored against the Hawks during league play, the first time a team had secured a conference season shutout since 1992. The senior back from Breda, The Netherlands, led SJU to 10 shutouts in 17 games, which ranked first nationally, and a .93 team goals against average, which is third in the NCAA. Van Tilburg also had eight goals and tied Santi with seven assists. She also earned All-Conference First Team honors.
 
A freshman midfielder/forward from Rosenheim, Germany, Herberhold tops the A-10 with eight assists while also scoring seven goals for 22 points. She leads UMass in points and assists and is tied for the lead in goals with Jess Beech. She was also named to the All-Conference Second Team and the All-Rookie Team.
 
Rudy earned her first A-10 Coach of the Year honors after leading the Bald Eagles to a 12-6 overall record and a 5-2 mark in conference play, earning the No. 3 seed for the championship. LHU won its first seven games this season, and was 9-1 in its first 10 games, with the only loss coming against No. 12 Saint Joseph’s, the A-10 Regular Season Champion. Rudy is in her 27^th year at Lock Haven where she has amassed 388 wins. Overall the 2018 NFHCA Hall of Fame inductee has coached for 45 years and won 634 games.

Joining Santi and van Tilburg on the All-Conference First Team were La Salle’s Tatum Johnson; Jazmin Palma and Martina Spangenberg of Lock Haven; Beech and her goalkeeper teammate Myrte van Herwijnen; Richmond's Lindsey Frank; Katy Benton and Manu Ghigliotti of Saint Joseph's; and Litiana Field of VCU.      
                                                                                                                                                                             
The All-Conference Second Team includes Herberhold and her UMass teammates Claire Danahy, Bella Ianni and Josie Rossbach; Richmond’s Tess Keppel; Maaike Gorissen, Anna Miller and goalkeeper Robin Bleekemolen from Saint Joseph's; and VCU’s Lonica McKinney and Janne Wetzel.

Johnson, Beech, Rossbach, Keppel, Miller, Field and McKinney are all part of the All-Academic Team, as are Davidson's Charlie Kabelac; Ryan Curley of La Salle; Steph Gottwals from UMass; and Saint Louis’ Cameron Tucker.
 
The All-Rookie team consisted of Malena Balduzzi form La Salle; Kelsey Felix, Brynlee Pinschenat and Victoria Scheer of Lock Haven; Herberhold and Gabrielle Benkenstein from UMass; Richmond's Lainey Nichols; Gorissen and Meike van Nieuwland of Saint Joseph's; Shaya Dry from Saint Louis; and VCU's Ana Iglesias.
 
The 2022 Atlantic 10 Field Championship begins with two Thursday semifinal matches between No. 1 Saint Joseph’s and No. 4 VCU in the first semifinal at 11:00 am ET and No. 2 Massachusetts and No. 3 Lock Haven in the second semifinal at 2:00 pm ET. The championship final will be played Saturday at noon ET. All three matches of the A-10 championship will be streamed live on ESPN+.