Hopkinton, Massachusetts, graduate among pair of nominees from the Northeast Conference; Stonehill's first ever Conference nominee
Four NEC Student-Athletes Selected as Institutional Nominees for 2023 Woman of the Year Award
EASTON, Mass. (July 24, 2023) – Stonehill College women's lacrosse graduate Lydia Rudden has been selected as one of the Northeast Conference's two nominees for the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Now in its 33rd year, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award recognizes graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Rudden and Saint Francis (Pa.) University women's lacrosse standout Elyssa Enrique have been selected by the NEC for its endorsement as NCAA Woman of the Year candidates after being nominated by their respective institutions.
Rudden, named Stonehill's Edward E. Martin Senior Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient for women's lacrosse, graduated in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree, having achieved a 3.88 cumulative grade point average as a philosophy major and business administration minor. The Moreau Honors Scholar at Stonehill will attend Boston College Law School as a Juris Doctor candidate and is the first student-athlete from the College to be named a Conference nominee for Woman of the Year. She received the Outstanding Philosophy Student Award this spring, and been named to the Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll all eight semesters, also earning spots on the NEC Academic Honor Roll and Commissioner's Honor Roll for the spring season.
Rudden is the first Stonehill student-athlete to ever receive a Conference nomination for NCAA Woman of the Year (PHOTO BY Brian Foley) |
Rudden is a Moreau Honors Program mentor, writing tutor at the Center for Writing and Academic Achievement and teaching assistant at the Meehan School of Business. She was a member of the College's Mock Trail Team, served as an Admissions Event Panelist and conducted philosophical research on ethical leadership to develop a capstone course for Stonehill's ethical leadership minor under the mentorship of Professor Brandan O'Sullivan. Rudden worked as a laboratory assistant at UMass Memorial Hospital assisting with COVID-10 testing during the pandemic.
Rudden is a two-time Academic All-District® At Large honoree by College Sports Communicators and earned Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference honors as a sophomore and junior, also collecting the NE10 Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award in 2022. She was named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll all six semesters prior to the College's transition to NCAA Division I and is a three-time St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Students, Medal recipient for having the highest cumulative GPA on the team.
Rudden served as a captain for the Stonehill women's lacrosse program this season as she earned All-NEC first team honors after leading the Conference in scoring with 72 points and assists with 48 – ranking seventh nationally in assists and second with 3.20 assists per game. The assist total is tied for third on Stonehill's all-time single-season list, along with her sister, Brooke Rudden, '15, behind her own single-season record of 77 assists in 2022. She also scored 24 goals this spring to rank fourth on the team, while adding 16 ground balls and five caused turnovers in 15 games.
Rudden, a two-time first team All-Conference selection over her career, earned first team All-America and All-East Region honors from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) as a junior. The 2022 NE10 Attack of the Year posted just the third 100-point season in program history in leading the Skyhawks to a sweep of the NE10 regular season and tournament championships as well as an NCAA Tournament bid, finishing with a program-record 119, on her way to 237 points in 49 career games to rank eighth all-time at Stonehill, with 83 goals and program-record 154 assists.
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee will next select the top ten honorees in each division in early September. The 30 honorees will be whittled down to nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of month. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will cast votes among the nine finalists to determine the 2023 Woman of the Year.
Stonehill finished its inaugural NCAA Division I season tied for third in the final NEC standings with a 5-3 mark. The Skyhawks notched their first Division I win at FDU (22-7) on March 18 and also posted a road win against LIU (15-11), an NEC Tournament participant on April 12. Stonehill placed five student-athletes on All-NEC teams, including a trio of first team picks.
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