Tara Vittese Repeats as ACC Offensive Player of the Year
Nov. 1, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia field hockey senior midfielder Tara Vittese (Cherry Hill, N.J.) was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year while Pien Dicke (Den Haag, Netherlands) was voted the ACC Freshman of the Year and Michele Madison was named the ACC Coach of the Year in honors announced Wednesday (Nov. 1) by the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Dicke and Vittese were also both voted to the All-ACC first team while sophomore back Dominique van Slooten (Den Haag, Netherlands) earned second team honors.
A two-time NFHCA National Player of the Year, Vittese was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, the first player to win two straight since Maryland’s Katie O’Donnell in 2009-10. She is the first Virginia player to ever repeat as the conference player of the year. Vittese ranks second in the country in goals per game (1.33) and points per game (3.44) and is eighth with 0.78 assists per game. Vittese is the 14th player in the 35-year history of ACC Field Hockey to be a four-time All-ACC honoree and the third player in UVA history, joining Elly Buckley (2010-13) and Paige Selenski (2008-10, 2012).
In her rookie season, Dicke is averaging 1.17 goals per game and 2.67 points per game, both of which ranked second in the conference and nationally in the top 10. Dicke joins Vittese (2014), Lucy Hyams (2013) and Paige Selenski (2008) as Cavaliers to win the award in the last decade.
Madison led the Cavaliers to the ACC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Championship with a 5-1 record. This is her first time earning the honor and is the second UVA coach to do so, joining Missy Sanders (1997).
Van Slooten, who was an NFHCA Second Team All-South Region honoree last season, earns all-conference accolades for the first time in her career. She is a key element to Virginia’s backline defense that has tallied seven shutouts this season.
The 2017 ACC Field Hockey Championship gets underway Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky. Virginia will begin action in the semifinals at noon on Friday, facing either Wake Forest or North Carolina. The championship will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. All six games of the championship will be broadcast on the ACC Regional Sports Networks and stream online as an ACC Network Extra production on ESPN3/WatchESPN.
2017 ACC Field Hockey Individual Honors
Offensive Player of the Year ÃÆ’Æ‘¢ÃƒÆ’¢’¬” Tara Vittese, Virginia
Defensive Player of the Year ÃÆ’Æ‘¢ÃƒÆ’¢’¬” Ashley Hoffman, North Carolina
Freshman of the Year ÃÆ’Æ‘¢ÃƒÆ’¢’¬” Pien Dicke, Virginia
Coach of the Year ÃÆ’Æ‘¢ÃƒÆ’¢’¬” Michele Madison, Virginia
2017 All-ACC Field Hockey Teams
First Team
Alyssa Chillano, Sr.,D, Duke @
Margaux Paolino, So., M, Duke
Nicole Woods, Sr., M, Louisville #
Ayeisha McFerran, Jr., GK, Louisville @
Eva van’t Hoog, Jr., M, North Carolina @
Ashley Hoffman, Jr., D, North Carolina
Lies Lagerweij, Sr., D, Syracuse @
Pien Dicke, Fr., F, Virginia
Tara Vittese, Sr., M, Virginia %
Jule Grashoff, Jr., F, Wake Forest @
Nicola Pluta, So., F, Wake Forest @
Second Team
Ymke Rose Gote, Jr., M, Boston College @
Frederique Haverhals, Jr., D, Boston College @
Rose Tynan, Jr., F, Duke
Alexa Mackintire, Sr., M, Duke
Sammi Steele, Jr., GK, Duke
Taylor Stone, Jr., D, Louisville
Minout Mink, So., F, Louisville @
Malin Evert, Jr., M, North Carolina @
Roos Weers, Jr., D, Syracuse #
Laura Hurff, Sr., M, Syracuse #
Dominique van Slooten, So., D, Virginia
@ Two-time honoree, # Three-time honoree, % Four-time honoree