November 3, 2026 — Rosemont, IL — LINK
The Big Ten Conference announced its individual award winners for field hockey on Tuesday on the eve of the 2026 Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament presented by Allstate.
Northwestern University collected four of the six individual awards.
Northwestern’s Ashley Sessa was named B1G Ten Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. Her teammate Ilse Tromp was tabbed as the Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year was Tracey Fuchs.
Sessa led all players with eight goals during the Big Ten campaign and captured the conference scoring title for the second-straight season. The senior forward led Northwestern in scoring (34 points) while helping the Wildcats to a share of the Big Ten regular season title. She is the third NU player in as many seasons to win the player of the year award and she is a three-time recipient of the offensive player of the year award.
Six players on the All-Big Ten First Team were unanimous picks: Northwestern’s Sessa, Tromp and Olivia Bent-Cole along with Iowa teammates Dionne van Aalsum and Fréderique van Cleef and Maryland’s Josie Hollamon.
