College Awards: Masse Named GNAC Rookie of the Year as Susquehanna, William Smith and Elizabethtown Honour Their Best
The postseason awards keep coming, and Wednesday belonged to the freshmen and the workhorses.
Chloe Masse is the GNAC Rookie of the Year. The Saint Joseph’s College of Maine first-year took the honour as the conference announced its all-conference teams, and she wasn’t the only Monk recognised. Seven Saint Joseph’s players made the all-conference list in total, which tells you plenty about the season they’ve had.
The coaching honour went the other way down the table. Colby-Sawyer’s Emily Dewdney was named GNAC Coach of the Year, which is the kind of award that usually follows a season where a side has done more than anyone expected of them. Between Masse’s breakthrough and Dewdney’s award, the GNAC has spread its honours around nicely this year.
Thompson leads Susquehanna’s four
Over in the Landmark Conference, Susquehanna put four players on the all-conference teams, and junior forward Jada Thompson led the way on the first team.
Thompson’s numbers do the talking. Eleven goals and 25 points in 22 games. That’s the kind of return that gets you noticed in any conference, and she’ll be the one opposition coaches circle first next season. Susquehanna’s other three honorees round out a strong year for the River Hawks, who have quietly built something worth watching.
Elizabethtown had their own Landmark honours to celebrate. Hannah Long made the first team, Sara Watson took a second-team spot, and Kaylie Noel earned honourable mention. Three players across three tiers of the team, which is a decent spread for a programme heading into the winter with momentum.
Griffith anchors William Smith’s four
The Liberty League’s turn went to William Smith, who placed four Herons on the all-conference teams. Senior Leah Griffith led them on the first team, and her case is built on reliability as much as anything else.
Griffith started all 20 games this season, scored twice and set up six more. Those aren’t headline numbers, but coaches know what a player who never misses a game and does the unglamorous work is worth. She was the steady hand in a side that kept turning up, and the first-team nod is a fair reward for it.
The rest of the Liberty League’s teams will follow in the coming days, and the pattern so far is the same one we’ve seen all week: the conferences are rewarding the players who carried their sides, not just the ones with the flashiest stat lines.
For our money, Masse is the name to remember from this batch. Rookie of the Year awards don’t guarantee anything, but a first-year who walks straight into a conference team of the year usually isn’t a one-season story.
