Sessa Does It Again and Schwarzkopf Stands Tall as NFHCA Names Its Final Players of the Week
Some players collect weekly awards. Ashley Sessa collects them the way other forwards collect goals, which is to say constantly.
The Northwestern senior was named NFHCA Division I Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, her fifth time taking the national honour and her second this season. She earned it the hard way, against the two best teams in the Big Ten.
Sessa scored three goals and set up another across Northwestern’s two tournament wins. She scored in the 3-0 semi-final win over then-No. 17 Indiana, then scored twice in the 3-0 final win over then-No. 1 Maryland, the second of them the game-winner. She was named the Big Ten Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, because of course she was.
It caps a week in which Sessa has swept just about everything in sight. She’s already the Big Ten Player of the Year and the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year for a third straight season, and she won the conference scoring title for a second year running with eight goals in league play. Northwestern are 18-2, the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, and chasing a third straight national title. Sessa is the reason nobody fancies stopping them.
Schwarzkopf’s 12 saves win Yale a first Ivy title
The defensive award went to a goalkeeper who had to be perfect, and was. Yale sophomore Amelie Schwarzkopf made 17 saves across the Ivy League tournament, and 12 of them came in the final against Princeton.
Yale were two goals down in that game. They fought back to force overtime, then beat the Tigers in a shootout to win the program’s first Ivy League tournament title. Schwarzkopf was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and the numbers say she earned it twice over. She’d already kept then-No. 4 Harvard quiet in the semi-final.
Yale are 14-3 and the No. 6 seeds in the NCAA tournament. They open against UMass on Friday at 2:30pm ET, 12:30am PKT on Saturday, in Cambridge. If the game is tight late on, and it probably will be, Schwarzkopf has already shown she likes those moments.
The honourable mentions
Syracuse sophomore Aubrey Turner took the offensive honourable mention after two goals and three assists across the Orange’s three ACC tournament wins. She had a goal and three assists against Louisville and scored against then-No. 7 North Carolina, earning All-Tournament honours as Syracuse won their first ACC title. Syracuse meet Princeton on Friday at 2:30pm ET in Storrs, and Turner against that Princeton defence is one of the ties of the round.
Northwestern junior Juliana Boon took the defensive honourable mention. She kept consecutive shutouts in the Big Ten tournament, making 15 saves in all, eight against Indiana and seven against Maryland, and made the All-Tournament team. Northwestern open their NCAA title defence against Saint Joseph’s on Friday at 1pm ET, 11pm PKT, at Lakeside Field.
For our money, Sessa is the best player in college hockey right now and it’s not close. But keep an eye on Schwarzkopf this weekend. Goalkeepers win tournaments, and she’s just won one almost single-handed.
