University of Connecticut Athletics
Numerous Huskies Earn BIG EAST End-of-Year Honors
10/31/2018 3:10:00 PM | Field Hockey
NEW YORK – UConn field hockey's Cecile Pieper was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year while Cheyenne Sprecher was tabbed the conference's Freshman of the Year as the duo headlined six Huskies who earned all-league honors.
Connecticut also earned the BIG EAST's Coaching Staff of the Year. For head coach Nancy Stevens, this is the 12th BIG EAST coaching awards she's earned since coming to UConn in 1990. The Huskies went 7-0 in BIG EAST play and earned their sixth straight conference regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in this weekend's BIG EAST Tournament.
Pieper and Sprecher are joined on the All-BIG EAST First Team by Svea Boker, Amanda Collins and Amelia Iacobucci. Antonia Tiedtke earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors. Collins and Pieper were unanimous selections to the first team.
Pieper, a senior from Mannheim, Germany, anchors a Husky defense that has yielded only 24 goals in 19 games. In BIG EAST play, UConn has given up only four goals in seven contests. Pieper is also a top offensive threat. She ranks fifth nationally in scoring with 2.74 points per game. The senior has 21 goals and 10 assists for 52 points.
Sprecher is a freshman goalkeeper who helped UConn to its regular-season crown and a 16-3 overall record. A native of Palmyra, Pa., she led all starting BIG EAST goalkeepers with a 1.28 goals against average. Sprecher also ranks first in save percentage with a .755 mark.
Boker has amassed 14 goals, 14 assists and 42 points this season, good for second on UConn. She ranks third in the conference in goals and assists. The goal, assist and point totals are already career highs for Boker.
A senior captain, Collins has posted seven goals, 13 assists and 27 points, which ranks third on the team. The Binghampton, N.Y, native ranks second in the conference in assists. This is the second straight season Collins has earned all-conference first team honors.
Also a senior captain, Iacobucci earns her first BIG EAST honors in 2018. She has notched one goal, three assists and five points this season.
Tiedtke leads UConn with 16 assists as the team's primary inserter on penalty corners. She also has 26 points. Tiedtke leads the conference in assists.
The Huskies will face fourth-seeded Villanova in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals Friday at 1 p.m. in Lynchburg, Va.
