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Shelly Edmonds Named VaSID Rookie of the Year
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Virginia’s Shelly Edmonds was named the Virginia Sports Information Directors’ Association (VaSID) Rookie of the Year as the organization announced its yearly field hockey awards. Also honored by the group were Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn, Abby Taylor, and Traci Ragukas, all of whom were named to the first team, while Lucy Meyers and Sara Confer joined Edmonds on the second team. The 2007 Cavaliers forged a 12-10 record after navigating the eighth-toughest schedule in the nation that included a second consecutive berth in the NCAA Championships.
Edmonds, a former member of the national teams program, helped a young Virginia side advance to the NCAA Championships while leading the Cavaliers in the backfield. The first-year back was named to the National All-Rookie Squad by womensfieldhockey.com after ranking second on the squad in defensive stats, despite missing two games.
Kaars Sijpesteijn led the Cavaliers in performance stats and earned All-American honors for the second consecutive season (third team, womensfieldhockey.com). She ranked second on the team in goals (nine), assists (five) and points (23). The third year from The Netherlands had two game-winning goals and two-game-winning assists and was named to the All-ACC team for the second year in a row. She also earned second-team All-Regional honors.
Ragukas led the Hoos in goals (13) and points (28). The second-team All-Regional performer closed the year with a bang, scoring five goals and adding an assist in the final four games, including two-goal efforts against Duke and Boston College to help the Cavaliers advance to the NCAA Championships.
Taylor ranked second on the team in performance stats and led the team with six assists. The fourth-year earned second-team All-Regional honors for the first time in her career.
Meyers earned National Player of the Week honors on Sept. 17 after helping the Cavaliers to a pair of victories, including a 3-1 defeat of James Madison in a key South Region contest. Meyers ranked sixth on the team in performance stats.
Confer, a third-year midfielder, ranked eighth on the team in performance stats and notched a goal and three assists.