Amber Youtz Named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year; Kroener, Millen and Delp Also Honored
11.5.14 | Field Hockey
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NEW YORK - Temple field hockey senior Amber Youtz has been named the 2014 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, and was also a unanimous selection to the BIG EAST First Team in a vote by the league's six head coaches. Youtz is joined on the BIG EAST First Team by fellow seniors Nicole Kroener and Lizzy Millen, while junior Alyssa Delp was named to the BIG EAST Second Team.
The honor for Youtz is the second of her career after also being named the 2012 Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year. An All-America Second Team selection in 2013, Youtz has gone on to have an even more impressive final season with the Owls. She leads all players in the nation with 26 goals, and has recorded eight career hat tricks including four this season. Her 68 career goals rank in a tie for third all-time at Temple, and she ranks fourth all-time with 163 career points while ranking eighth all-time with 27 career assists. Youtz is the active career leader among all NCAA Division I players in both goals and points.
Youtz has 24 more points than the next highest point-earner in the BIG EAST, and 11 more goals than the No. 2 scorer in the league. She is the lone player in the conference to average more than one goal per game (1.37) and more than three points per contest (3.16). Youtz enters the postseason on an eight-game point-scoring streak and has seven game-winning goals to her credit.
As a junior, along with earning All-America Second Team honors, Youtz was named to the All-Region First Team and All-BIG EAST First Team. This year she was also a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection and was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week three times.
Kroener is a team co-captain and four-year veteran who has played and started in every single Temple game throughout her career. She is tied for fifth all-time in program history with 29 career assists, and led the team with 10 assists as a junior. Kroener has also scored 14 career goals, including eight as a sophomore. After recording two assists in the Owls' come-from-behind win at Providence last month, Nicole was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll. The BIG EAST honor is the second career conference honor for Kroener, who was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team as a freshman.
Alyssa DelpAs a five-year veteran for the Owls and a team co-captain this season, Millen has had a truly outstanding career as Temple's starting goalkeeper for the past four seasons. She was a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection, and was a BIG EAST Second Team honoree last year. Millen has played in all 82 games for Temple over the last four years, and with 404 career saves, she ranks sixth all-time in program history. This season she has a 78.7 save percentage to lead the BIG EAST and rank sixth among all goalkeepers in NCAA Division I. As a redshirt freshman in 2011, Millen was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Atlantic 10 Tournament and was also named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team.
Delp has earned a conference honor for the second time in her career after also being named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team as a freshman. She has played in all 60 games for the Owls since arriving to campus, and has scored 17 career goals to go with six assists. This season she has four goals and two assists for 10 total points. When Temple was trailing 2-0 at Old Dominion on Oct. 17, Delp recorded an assist and then a goal of her own to get the Owls back in the game. For her efforts, she was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
Top-seeded Connecticut claimed three of the four major league awards, including Nancy Stevens' eighth BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year certificate. Along with the coaching honor, the Huskies earned the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, won by junior back Roisin Upton, and Charlotte Veitne was named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year.
For a 12th year in a row and second year as part of the BIG EAST, Temple has earned a conference tournament berth. The 16th-ranked and third-seeded Owls (13-6) will face the 17th-ranked and second-seeded ODU Monarchs (11-7) in the BIG EAST Semifinals on Friday, Nov. 7 at 1:00 p.m. Providence College is serving as the host of the tournament, which also features top-seeded and #3 UConn as well as host and fourth-seeded Providence.
Both of Friday's semifinals as well as Sunday's championship game will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN). The BEDN is a partnership between the BIG EAST Conference and FOX Sports to create a conference-specific, year-round HD digital channel via FOX Sports' mobile application, FOX Sports GO. Fans can also watch BEDN on FOX Sports GO on the web at www.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo. Gametracker live stats will also be available for all three games. To purchase tickets for the BIG EAST Tournament, click HERE.
2014 BIG EAST Field Hockey Awards
BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year Amber Youtz, Temple, Sr., F
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Roisin Upton, Connecticut, Jr., B*
BIG EAST Rookie of the Year Charlotte Veitner, Connecticut, Fr., F
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year Connecticut
All-BIG EAST First Team^ Daniella Bernasconi, Providence, Sr., F Sophie Bowden, Connecticut, Jr., F/M Sarah Breen, Old Dominion, Jr., M* Chrissy Davidson, Connecticut, Sr., M* Kayla Kenney, Villanova, Jr., F/M Nicole Kroener, Temple, Sr., M Kate Malone, Providence, Grad., M* Anna Middendorf, Connecticut, So. , B Lizzy Millen, Temple, Sr., GK Kelsey Smither, Old Dominion, Sr., M* Henni Tietze, Providence, Sr., B Roisin Upton, Connecticut, Jr., B* Rosario Villagra, Old Dominion, Sr., F* Amber Youtz, Temple, Sr., F*
^extra members were added due to a tie in voting *unanimous selection
All-BIG EAST Second Team Olivia Bolles, Connecticut, So., B/M Megan Byas, Old Dominion, So., B Deidra Clymer, Providence, Sr., GK Alyssa Delp, Temple, Jr., M Katy Fuhrman, Old Dominion, R-Sr., F Aliyah Graves-Brown, Georgetown, So., F Megan Hamilton, Providence, Fr., F Nina Klein, Connecticut, R-Fr., GK Jess Swoboda, Villanova, Sr., F/M Charlotte Veitner, Connecticut, Fr., F Caitlin Walsh, Old Dominion, R-Jr., M
