University Of Delaware’s Field Hockey Team Named NFHCA National Academic Team

The University of Delaware Field Hockey has accumulated a lot of awards after winning the National Championship last season and on Wednesday the team added one more to their name. The Field Hockey team was honored by  NFHCA as a 2016 ZAG Field Hockey/NFHCA Division I National Academic Team Award recipient. This award goes to schools whose team G.P.A. is 3.0 or higher during the first semester of the 2016-17 academic year.

The Blue Hens had highest team average for UD Field Hockey in history with a team G.P.A. of 3.4.

The field hockey held the G.P.A. during a 19 game winning streak and rode it to a 23-2 record and a National Championship win.

This is the sixth straight season under Head Coach Rolf van de Kerkhof that the Field Hockey has this honor.

“Congratulations are in place for another extraordinary accomplishment by our team,” said Van de Kerkhof. “Last season they came up with the mantra of ‘Fight Together – Win Together’ and they have done so impressively on and off the field. A team accomplishment is always the sum of individuals and for this group of individuals to come together as a group and becoming a strong and united team could only happen thanks to the commitment to themselves and each other, and the contributions they made to the group and our team.”

Van de Kerkhof continued, “For many years now our program has taken great pride in talking about our student-athletes being ‘true student-athletes’ in pursing excellence in academics and athletics. They have proven it to themselves year in and year out, and therefore earned the praise and respect of others. It comes to show once again that with the right mindset and priorities they can be winners from a GPA and games record prospective while at the same time enjoying their overall college experience and utilizing their time as student-athletes in becoming better people now and for the rest of their lives. As their head coach, I am very proud of their accomplishments and even more impressed with their ability to refocus and reset for the next semester and in a way starting all over again! Within our team and program setting we talk a lot on the direct correlation between level of maturity and intelligence, and the ability of obtainable success. Our current players group is mature and intelligent and therefore in the position to obtain academic and athletic success and positive experiences!”