Five Wolverines Garner NFHCA All-Region Accolades
11/26/2018 12:59:00 PM | Field Hockey
CHANDLER, Ariz. -- The University of Michigan field hockey team placed five players on the 2018 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-West Region teams, the organization announced Monday (Nov. 26). It is the second straight season that at least five Wolverines were selected to the all-region teams and marks the program's third-most honorees behind six in 2017 and seven in 2000.
Senior Maggie Bettez, junior Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort and senior Emma Way were named to the first team, while junior Meg Dowthwaite and sophomore Halle O'Neill earned second-team recognition. Fernandez Lacort, Way and Dowthwaite all earned all-region honors for the second straight year.
The 2018 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I Regional Players of the Year will be announced Thursday (Nov. 29), while All-America teams will be announced Tuesday, Dec. 4.
Over her collegiate career, Bettez was a key component of the Wolverine defensive unit that allowed only 1.19 goals and 8.6 total shots per game over the last four seasons. Michigan's flyer on the corner defensive unit and primary inserter on its attack corner, Bettez posted one career goal and seven assists. She was named to the All-Big Ten second team earlier this season.
Fernandez Lacort, the Wolverines' field general in the midfield, has started every game 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. She was named to the NFHCA All-West Region second team last season and was a 2018 All-Big Ten first team honoree.
Way was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year after leading the conference -- and ranking 11th nationally -- with 0.90 goals per game this season. She boasted a career-best 19 goals on the season, including five game-winners and four multi-goal games, with five assists and 43 points. Way, who earned NFHCA All-West Region second team honors last season, finished her career with 42 goals, 21 assists and 105 points. She ranks seventh among U-M's all-time career leaders in goals and points.
Dowthwaite, a 2017 NFHCA All-American, ranked 10th in the Big Ten with 10 goals on the season -- her second straight season with double-digit markers -- and added four assists for 24 points. She boasted four game-winning tallies on the season, including a late stroke goal at Penn State and the first and game-winning marker early against Saint Joseph's in the NCAA first round.
O'Neill has started nearly every game in the backfield since her arrival in Ann Arbor, including 20 games at center back this season, and serves as a primary contributor on the Wolverines' offensive and defensive corner units. She owns seven career goals, including three in 2018, and one assist. O'Neill is a member of the USA Field Hockey Under-21 Team.
The Wolverines finished the 2018 season with a 14-7 record, including a perfect 9-0 home record at Phyllis Ocker Field, while capturing their second straight Big Ten regular-season title and reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.
