WASHINGTON – Saint Joseph's senior back Milou Kluyt has been named the Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Year, while head coach Sam Brown has been voted the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, the conference office announced on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Kluyt was also tabbed for the All-Conference First Team alongside senior forward Erika Culp and junior back Adèle Jardemar.  Graduate student forward Alison Buffington, senior forward Cat Arentz, junior midfielder Lily DeWan, junior goalkeeper Avianna Wagner, and freshman midfielder Monica Piccioli were named to the All-Conference Second Team.
 
Piccioli was joined on the All-Rookie Team by sophomore back Katie Hanich and freshman midfielder Amy Noonan, while Buffington, DeWan, and Kluyt were also named to the All-Academic Team.
 
A native of Goirle, Netherlands, Kluyt earned the league's top defensive honor for the second consecutive season, making her the second Hawk to achieve that feat after Victoria Kammerinke (2017-18).  She has started all 18 games this season, hardly leaving the pitch as a leader of a Hawk defense that allowed just three goals in conference play and held eight opponents to six shots or fewer, with five of those coming in conference play.  Kluyt has tallied seven goals and 19 points, tying her for the team lead in points and tying her for seventh in the league.  She was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week on September 28 and earned Offensive Player of the Week honors on October 19.
 
Brown, meanwhile, becomes the third Hawk to earn the league's top coaching honor; Michelle Finegan was tabbed in 1995 and 2003, while Lynn Farquhar was feted five times (2016-19, 2021).  The Christchurch, New Zealand, native led the Hawks to an unbeaten 6-0 mark in league play in his first season on Hawk Hill, culminating in an outright Atlantic 10 regular season title, the program's first since 2023 and its eighth in the past 11 seasons.
 
Culp earns her second consecutive First Team honor and her fourth All-Conference nod in as many season after being named to the All-Rookie Team in 2023 and the All-Conference Second Team in 2024.  The Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, native is tied for the team lead in goals and points with eight and 19, respectively, and is tied for third in the league in goals scored and sits solo third in points in conference play.  She posted three-point games at Lehigh on September 11 and against Lock Haven on October 16 before notching her first career hat trick and adding an assist for a career-high seven points in the win over La Salle on October 30; as a result, Culp earned Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week honors on November 2.
 
Hailing from Saint Germain en Laye, France, Jardemar is tied for the team lead in goals and tied for third in total points while also holding down the fort defensively as the Hawks stifled the rest of the conference in league play, outscoring the opposition by a 28-3 margin; in addition, on four occasions this season, the Hawks held their opponents to four shots or fewer.  Jardemar potted two goals, including the game-winner, in the win over Richmond on September 25 before adding two more in a win over La Salle on October 30.  The 2025 All-Rookie selection was named the league's Offensive Player of the Week on September 28.
 
Buffington earned a spot on the All-Conference Second Team for the second consecutive season after being named to the Preseason All-Conference Team in both 2025 and 2026.  The Enola, Pa., native currently leads the team and the conference with 10 assists, collecting three in a win at Davidson on October 2 and adding a three-point day with a goal and an assist against Villanova in a win on October 18.  She is also tied with two of her teammates for the league lead in assists in conference games.
 
A product of Sinking Spring, Pa., Arentz is tied with Culp and Jardemar for the team lead in goals and ranks tied for third on the team with 18 points.  She also leads the team with four game-winning goals, which ranks her second in the conference; she is one of just four players in the league to record multiple game-winning goals in conference play.  Arentz currently ranks in a tie for ninth in the league in goals and is tied for 11th in total points.
 
DeWan ranks second on the team and in a tie for second in the conference with nine assists; the Collegeville, Pa., product is one of three Hawks tied for the league lead in assists in conference play with six.  She tallied the Hawks' first goal of the season in the win over New Hampshire on August 28 before recording multi-assist games in wins at Saint Louis on September 18 and against Lock Haven on October 16.
 
Wagner started all 18 games in the cage for the Hawks and posted a league-best 0.55 goals-against average in conference play; the Philadelphia native would go on to shut out the opposition over the final 144:30 of conference play.  She made 15 saves, including one on a penalty stroke, in a two-game span against Davidson and Duke to earn Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week honors on October 5 and NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week laurels two days later.  Wagner turned away all three of VCU's shootout attempts on October 23, helping lead the Hawks to a win that clinched a share of the regular season title and the top seed in this week's Atlantic 10 Tournament.
 
Coming to Hawk Hill from Louisville, Kentucky, Piccioli serves as one of the Hawks' primary stickstops on the attacking penalty corner unit while recording eight assists and 12 points.  She is currently tied for fourth in the Atlantic 10 in assists and tied for the league lead in assists in conference play; she is tied for first among league freshmen overall and leads all first-years in league play.  Piccioli was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week on October 19 after tallying three assists against Lock Haven on October 16 and adding a goal against Villanova on October 18.
 
After redshirting her freshman season, Hanich has appeared in all 18 games as one of the first substitutes off the bench in 2026.  The Newark, Delaware, product was part of the Hawk defensive unit that turned in a dominant performance in Atlantic 10 play, holding conference foes to three goals and none over the final three league games of the season.
 
Noonan broke into the starting lineup early in the season and has started 16 games while appearing in all 18.  The Cork, Ireland, native has become a key midfield stalwart for the Atlantic 10 regular season champions, tallying assists in wins over Davidson on October 2 and Lock Haven on October 16.
 
Buffington was tabbed for the All-Academic Team for the third consecutive season, while Kluyt earned her second such honor in a row.  DeWan was voted onto the squad for the first time.
 
The Hawks will take on Davidson at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday in the semifinals of the 2026 Atlantic 10 Tournament; the winner moves on to the title game, scheduled for noon on Saturday.