WASHINGTON — Richmond and Saint Joseph’s doubled up on the Atlantic 10’s major field hockey awards while VCU joined the party. The awards were announced Wednesday. The five major accolades, along with the All-Conference teams, the All-Rookie team and the All-Academic team, were selected based on regular-season play.
 
2026 Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Postseason Awards (PDF)
 
Richmond’s Clara Larripa was named A10 Offensive Player of the Year, while Milou Kluyt from Saint Joseph’s and VCU’s Emma Clements repeated as Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively. Spiders freshman Abril Peroni was selected as Rookie of the Year, while SJU’s first-year head coach Sam Brown was chosen by his peers as the A10 Coach of the Year. The major awards, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the Atlantic 10’s head field hockey coaches, while the All-Academic team was selected by the A10’s field hockey media relations directors.
 
Clara Larripa finished the regular season with 25 goals and 56 points, leading not just the Atlantic 10 but the entire country in goals per game (1.47) and points per game (3.29). The senior from Buenos Aires, Argentina scored at least one goal in 12 of the Spiders’ 17 games during the campaign, including a pair of four-goal games in A10 play and three other hat tricks. She was a five-time Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week selection this year and was also named to the All-Conference First Team and the All-Academic Team.
 
A senior defender from Goirle, Netherlands, Milou Kluyt started all 18 games and anchored a Hawks defense that allowed just three goals in conference play on the way to an undefeated regular-season title (6-0). SJU shut out its final three conference opponents to clinch the top seed in this weekend’s A10 Tournament. Kluyt also showed off her offensive prowess this season, tying for the team lead with 19 points (7g/5a). The senior—who was a one-time A10 Defensive Player of the Week and one-time A10 Offensive Player of the Week this season—also was a first-team all-conference and All-Academic selection.
 
Emma Clements finished the season second among A10 goalies in saves per game (7.83) and save percentage (.810) in conference play on the way to securing her second straight top goalkeeper honor. Overall, her 6.00 saves per game were 18th nationally. The redshirt junior from Fredericksburg, Va., also was the conference’s first-team all-conference selection in the cage and was an All-Academic recipient.
 
Abril Peroni was a major reason Richmond finished the season fourth nationally in goals per game (3.94) and points per game (10.71). The freshman from Cordoba, Argentina scored nine goals on the season and added an assist for 19 points, scoring in six different contests for the Spiders. She was a three-time A10 Rookie of the Week honoree this season.
 
Sam Brown had an impressive first season overseeing the Hawks program, as Saint Joseph’s went undefeated in conference play and earned its first regular-season title since 2023 and its ninth overall. SJU outscored its conference opponents by a staggering 29-3 margin—no A10 team scored more than once against the Hawks this year—and has not allowed a goal in Atlantic 10 play over the last 204:30 of game action.
 
The postseason awards and all-conference teams were announced ahead of the 2026 Betterment Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Tournament, which begins Thursday at VCU’s Cary Street Field. Top-seeded Saint Joseph’s faces fourth-seeded Davidson in the first semifinal, at 11 a.m., followed by second-seeded Richmond and third-seeded VCU at 2 p.m. The winners of Friday’s semis will meet in the championship game on Saturday at noon. All three games will air on ESPN+.