NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Saint Joseph's junior forward Lily Santi and senior back Freke van Tilburg were named the Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, as the conference announced its annual postseason awards on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Joining the pair on the All-Conference First Team are senior midfielder Katy Benton and junior forward Manu Ghigliotti.  Second Team honors went to senior goalkeeper Robin Bleekemolen, freshman midfielder Maaike Gorissen, and senior back Anna Miller, while Gorissen and classmate Meike van Nieuwland were tabbed for the All-Rookie Team.  Miller earned All-Academic laurels as well.
 
Santi leads the conference in goals with 16 and points with 39 while tying for second in the league in assists.  She is a four-time Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week and netted a pair of hat tricks in league play.  The Oceanport, New Jersey, native currently ranks seventh in Division I in goals per game and eighth in points per game.
 
Hailing from Breda, Netherlands, van Tilburg is tied with Santi for second in the conference with seven assists while also adding eight goals, tied for fifth in the league; she sits third in the conference on 23 points.  Defensively, she was a key component of a unit that held all seven conference opponents scoreless, a feat that had not been achieved in the Atlantic 10 since 1992 and had never been done against a seven-game schedule.
 
Benton collected four assists to move into the top 10 on the Hawks' all-time list after starting every game for the fourth consecutive season.  The Worcester, Pennsylvania, native has played a key role on both ends of the field for a team that ranks sixth in the nation in goals scored and per game and third in the nation in goals against average.
 
Last season's Offensive Player of the Year, Ghigliotti ranks second on the team and fourth in the league with nine goals.  The Malvinas, Argentina, product's 22 points are good for third on the squad and fourth in the league as well, while she ranks second in the conference in goals and points in league play.
 
Bleekemolen started all 17 games in the cage as part of the Hawks' historically stingy defense and has ranked among the national leaders in goals against average all season long; her 1.07 mark currently tops the Atlantic 10.  Hailing from Amsterdam, Netherlands, she earned four solo shutouts and six combined clean sheets to lead the Hawks to a Division I-best 10 shutouts on the season thus far.
 
Coming to Hawk Hill from Bennekom, Netherlands, Gorissen started all 17 contests in the midfield during her first season in the Crimson and Gray.  She posted a three-point game against Quinnipiac on October 9 that led to her being named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week.
 
Van Nieuwland, another Amsterdam native, appeared in all but one game this season as one of the first players off the bench and was a major contributor to the Hawks' defensive prowess all season long.
 
Miller shifted from her position as a two-time All-Conference forward to the backline this season and started every game as the Hawks put forward one of the best defenses in the country.  The Chester Springs, Pa., native earned Defensive Player of the Week accolades on September 26.
 
Mali Herberhold of UMass was named the Rookie of the Year, while Lock Haven's Pat Rudy was tabbed as the Coach of the Year.
 
Top-seeded Saint Joseph's, which won its sixth A-10 regular season title in seven seasons, will take on fourth-seeded VCU in the first semifinal of the Atlantic 10 Championship on Thursday morning.  The winner will meet either tournament host and second-seeded UMass or third-seeded Lock Haven in the championship game on Saturday at noon.