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D2 Most Valuable Player


#9 -- Elizabeth Hitti, UPENN

This dashing Sophomore hit the ice a quarter of the way into the season and she did not miss a step. Playing on the Varsity Field Hockey team at the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth known by her teammates, Hitti is a force to be reckoned with. Hitti is what every coach hopes to get on their bench. Pure hockey player who is a skillful player to make plays out of nothing. Hitti would be out on the ice while her team would be going for a line change, and create a scoring chance. In 6 games, Hitti had 14 goals, and 23 points.  That is a remarkable statistic. Almost having a hat-trick in every time she hit the ice. Hitti would make players around her better, and helped the University of Pennsylvania take home a Championship, and complete a perfect undefeated season.


#4 -- Abby Shaw, IUP

As a senior for IUP Women’s Hockey, Abigail Shaw has been the driving offensive force for the Crimson Hawks. Averaging 2.77 points per game and 36 total points this season Abby led the team in all aspects. Abby had 24 goals, 12 assists and often maxed out at three goals per game. Abby has continued to compete through numerous challenges, even competing with a broken wrist during playoffs. Abby shows true love and dedication for the sport of hockey and her entire team. Her previous teams include the Erie Lady Lions and will graduate from IUP this year with a major in Social Work.

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#31 -- Lauren Solski, PHOENIX

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I have been a professor for 13 years at Montclair State University.  What happened in the last year or so is unlike anything that I have witnessed. This
is the very brief story of Laruen Solski.
    She started a team (twice), got the financing, players, coaches. She got the league to say yes and even played goal to ensure it happened. She came close to winning the championship and now is looking at an even better year. When I was 19, 20, 21, what was I doing? 
    She is the MVP because, yes, by the end of the year, she was a pretty darn good goalie. But truly, to convince and to achieve, to dream and then realize, to be the one that leads, this is what an MVP is. She writes briefly about the journey, but if I didn’t know better, our kids are going to be watching an afterschool special about her in a couple years. 
    I’ll summarize by letting you in on a speech I gave in the final game. The idea was the we have many coaches, and many people additionally that help at practice. We are all, as humans, attracted to winners. Lauren Solski is the leader of this group of winners. In my speech, I mentioned this, but added that I take my 7­year old daughter to these games so that she can learn from Lauren. I told her dad and then the team, if my daughter turned out like Lauren, or any of the team she created, I would be a lucky man. 
Lauren writes: “My hockey journey began when I was 11. I was skiing in Vermont when it started to rain. Rain and snow don't go well together so my dad and I decided to go public skating. That's when I saw a girls team for the first time. My dad enrolled me in hockey clinics at the ice house and I trained for about a year. I used to bowl at a bowling alley that was right next to the rink. (Bowling was the only sport I ever played before hockey) One day a parent at the bowling alley mentioned that the North Jersey Avalanche was starting a girls team. I tried out and made the team. This was my first
travel hockey experience. The team lasted for two years and then folded.
    I made a lot of friends as an Avalanche and in order to stay together, most of us decided to try out for the New Jersey Selects. We all made the team but because of one older girl on the team we had to play in an upper division. I was only 15 at the time when I started playing 19u hockey.
    The Selects only lasted one year before folding. The mental abuse from the coach became too much for many of the girls and they quit hockey all together. It wasn't a very good year but I did come out of it with two new friends: Alex Tepper and Bridget Callan.
    The former Avalanche and Selects went our separate ways at this point. Desperate to find another team, I tried out for the Quarry Cats. I made the team and was kept at the 19u level. The Quarry Cats were definitely my favorite team to play for. The atmosphere was amazing and I finally felt like I found my home. I met some awesome people such as Rachael Bahr, Tiffany Melillo, Joanna Kulpanowski and Nicolette Soden.  Unfortunately after 3 years of playing for the quarry cats, the team folded along with my youth hockey days. I had aged out but I had my sights on starting something new.
I began the process of starting a women's team at my college, Montclair State University. With the the help of an amazing professor, Julian Keenan and my father, we put a team together. During this process I had to make the easy decision to become a goalie. I say this was easy because I knew that without stepping up to play in goal, this team would have never gotten off the ground. I trained all summer for what was suppose to be our first season. However, because of selfish and egotistical reasons, the athletic director decided to pull the plug on the program and not go forward with it. Devastated, I thought my hockey career was over. But then I had an idea. What if I put together a team of women from all the local universities who have never been given a shot to play college hockey. Nothing like this had ever been done
before. I didn't know how people would respond. Would we be respected as a college team? I rounded up the best of the best. Alumni from the Selects and Quarry Cats who I hadn't seen in years. New players who had never stepped foot on the ice before but had the most amazing passion I've ever seen. And myself humbly in goal. We formed the north jersey phoenix. The first women's collegiate composite team.”

 


#20 -- Julie Stephano, SJU

Where do I begin? Julie stepped up from defense last year to play goalie for us and the rest is history. This year, we’ve had the best season in program history.  This is largely due to Julie’s outstanding goaltending, as well as her incredible work ethic. It has truly been an honor to watch you grow into an amazing goalie, and all around hockey player.  On behalf of the entire St. Joe’s Women’s Hockey program, we are more than excited to have you back between the pipes next year. 


#7 -- Sarah Stern, COLUMBIA

Our unflappable goalie, Sarah Stern, is the archetype of a total trooper. No one in the league (and, we’d wager, no one in any ice hockey league ever) faces more shots per game than this gal, and yet she stands tall in net while playing every second of every game for our club. Despite our losing record, Sarah completed the 2013-14 season with a respectable .823 save percentage, after facing a whopping 452 shots on goal and stopped 372 of them.

Having played goalie for her roller hockey team in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, this gender studies major opted to take the plunge and trade in her blades for skates during her first year at Columbia, and she hasn’t looked back since. Sarah is the only reason we remain semi-competitive in each and every game, and we owe her so much for always giving it her best effort despite the shelling she has to endure. Not only that, but she does so with a smile—and, of course, her signature sass. Just ask the refs.


#23 -- Gina Weires, AU

Our team was made up entirely of MVPs this year.  Their hardwork & dedication has kept our team alive & begun the rebuilding process on campus.  Their work is possible because of Gina.  This summer, when we lost all but 4 players to graduation, Gina worked OT to find new players.  She worked with the school to claw us out of debt.  When games started, Gina led us in scoring, her grit & talent making the difference in every shift.  We were forced to put her back on defense or give her only 1 sub at center in all games but she still gave every shift everything she had.  Even though graduation & travel forced her to leave the team in December, she finished on top in points. On & off the ice her fun enthusiasm and good-natured leadership make her our mama bear, we'd follow her anywhere.  Her early work to save the team, her record & work on the ice & her leadership have earned her the title MVP.


#67 -- Jessalynn Wright, ROWAN