Three Named to All-Big Ten Teams; Way Snags Offensive Honor
10/31/2018 3:40:00 PM | Field Hockey
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- University of Michigan senior Emma Way, a forward on the Wolverine field hockey team, has been named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday (Oct. 31). Way was also one of three Wolverines selected to the All-Big Ten teams.
Way and junior Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort were selected to the All-Big Ten first team -- both for the first time in their careers -- after previously earning NFHCA All-West Region second team honors last season. Senior Maggie Bettez was named to the All-Big Ten second team, also for the first time in her career.
Way becomes the seventh different Wolverine to be named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, earning the program's eighth total offensive accolade, and the first since Rachael Mack in 2013. Michigan has claimed 23 Big Ten yearly awards since 1997.
Way, native of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, leads the Big Ten and ranks 10th nationally with 0.94 goals per game and ranks 13th nationally with 2.06 points per game. She boasts a career-best 17 goals on the season, including five game-winners and four multi-goal games. She owns 40 career goals, ranking seventh among U-M's all-time leaders in the category.
Fernandez Lacort, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has started every game in the Wolverine midfield over the last two seasons, splitting time between wing and center mid. She owns four career goals, including two game-winners, and 17 assists -- as the primary stick stopper on the Wolverine corner unit.
Bettez, a native of Acton, Massachusetts, has been a key component of the Wolverine defensive unit since arriving in Ann Arbor -- one that has allowed only 1.13 goals and 8.38 total shots per game over the last four seasons. The Wolverines' flyer on their corner defensive unit and primary inserter on their attack corner, Bettez also owns one career goal and seven assists.
Freshman goalkeeper Anna Spieker was selected as Michigan's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The award given annually to student-athletes who distinguish themselves through good sportsmanship and ethical behavior, as well as demonstrate academic excellence and good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
The Wolverines will return to action this Friday (Nov. 2), squaring off against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals at 2:30 p.m. CDT at Lakeside Field in Evanston, Illinois.
