RICHMOND — Five William & Mary field hockey standouts earned All-CAA honors, the league announced on Thursday morning.
Senior Jayden Moon and junior Pyper Friedman led the way for the Tribe, earning All-CAA First Team honors, while graduate student Lauren Curran was named to the second team. It marked the seventh-straight season that the Tribe had at least three players named to the top two teams.
Freshmen Mackinzie Brown and Josie Mae Gruendel were named to the CAA All-Rookie team, giving the Tribe multiple selections for the sixth time and first since 2018. W&M was one of four teams with multiple All-Rookie Team picks.
Friedman and Moon earned first team honors for the first time in their career after being named to the Preseason All-CAA team to start the year. Both players also competed in the U.S. Under 21 National Team Camp and Junior Pan American Championship Selection Camp over the last year. It marked the first time the Tribe had multiple first team picks since 2019.
Friedman ranked among the top 15 in the CAA in goals (5), assists (5) and points (15). In CAA play, she had seven points on two goals and three assists. On two occasions this season, Friedman was named the CAA Player of the Week, accomplishing the feat with two goals in a win at then-No. 12 Wake Forest and two weeks later after scoring two goals in the CAA-opening win over Towson.
Moon started all 17 games in the midfield, posting two goals and five assists. Her five helpers rank second on the team and 12th in the CAA. Moon scored the game-winning goal in the Tribe’s 3-1 win at Delaware earlier this season and notched an assist in the victory over CAA regular-season champion Monmouth on Oct. 20.
Curran garnered All-CAA honors for the second-straight season with a spot on the second team. She leads the Tribe and ranks among the top five in the CAA with 11 goals and 25 points. In total, she is among the top five in the league in nearly every offensive category – shots, shots on goal, goals, game-winning goals and points. Curran closed out the regular season, winning back-to-back CAA Player of the Week awards and was selected as the NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday. She has scored seven goals in the last four games.
Brown was a key reserve for the Green and Gold, appearing in 14 games. Gruendel played in all 17 games, including 11 starts, and finished with a goal and an assist. She tallied her lone goal of the year in CAA play at Drexel.
Winners in four of their last five matches, the Tribe will be the No. 3 seed in the 2023 CAA Championship, Nov. 3-5, at Delaware. W&M faces No. 2 seed Drexel on Friday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. in the semifinals. Monmouth and Northeastern meet in the other semifinal with the winners squaring off on Sunday, Nov. 5, for the CAA title at 1 p.m. The entire CAA Championship will be streamed on FloLive.
