The United Collegiate Hockey Conference announced its 2022-23 Women’s Award Winners and All-Conference teams on Wednesday, March 1. The awards were selected through an all-encompassing survey of the league’s 11 head coaches.

Senior Erica Sloan of Utica University was named the 2022-23 UCHC Player of the Year. Sloan leads all UCHC players in scoring with 45 points on 24 goals and 21 assists in addition to a league-best plus-47 rating. Sloan is sixth nationally in points and tied for fifth with six game-winning goals. She tallied 32 points and was plus-35 in 20 UCHC regular season contests. Sloan has at least a point in 24 games this season and 11 multiple-point efforts with four different four-point games and two hat-tricks. She is the second consecutive Utica student-athlete to earn Player of the Year honors, joining teammate and fellow All-UCHC selection Georgiana Santullo.

Nazareth College junior defenseman Julia Holmes was named the UCHC’s Defensive Player of the Year. Holmes has tallied 27 points on seven goals and 20 assists in 27 games this season, while playing at a plus-24 clip. Holmes is fourth nationally among all defensemen in scoring. An All-UCHC First Team selection, Holmes has helped lead Nazareth to the 2022-23 UCHC Championship game.
 
Utica junior Angela Hawthorne was named the UCHC Goaltender of the Year for the second straight season. Hawthorne is 16-2-3 on the season with a 0.97 goals against average and league-leading .960 save percentage. Hawthorne is second nationally in save percentage and third in goals against average, while her five shutouts are tied for tenth nationally. She made at least 20 saves in a game nine times, including a career-best 52-save effort against nationally-ranked Hamilton.
 
Katrina Strauts of Lebanon Valley College was named the 2023 UCHC Rookie of the Year after tallying 23 points on 12 goals and 11 assists in 26 games played. She tallied 10 goals and 16 points in 20 UCHC regular season contests, while helping lead the Dutchmen to the league quarterfinals.

Utica head coach Dave Clausen is the 2022-23 UCHC Coach of the Year. Clausen has led the Pioneers to a program-record 22 wins and No. 12 national ranking. The Pioneers earned 55 of a possible 60 points in league play and are set to take on top-seed Nazareth in the 2022-23 UCHC Championship game on March 4. Utica is fourth nationally in scoring, with 4.89 goals per game, third defensively, allowing 0.89 goals per game and is third in scoring margin (4.00). The Pioneers are in the top-10 nationally in nearly every team category. It is Clausen’s second UCHC Coach of the Year honor (2021). Clausen, the only head coach in Utica’s 22-year history, has 325 career wins.
 
All four UCHC first team selections for Utica (Madison Novotny, Hawthorne, Santullo and Sloan) are repeat selections. Holmes of Nazareth and Gabrielle Cox of Manhattanville rounded out the first team. Cox is tied for second nationally with 31 goals. The Pioneers added one second team selection and an honorable mention pick for a league-high six all-conference selections.

The full complement of award winners is listed below.
 
2022-23 UCHC Women's Ice Hockey Award Winners
Player of the Year: Erica Sloan, Utica
Rookie of the Year: Katrina Strauts, Lebanon Valley
Goaltender of the Year: Angela Hawthorne, Utica
Defensive Player of the Year: Julia Holmes, Nazareth
Coach of the Year: Dave Clausen, Utica

First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Gabrielle Cox, Manhattanville
Forward: Georgiana Santullo, Utica
Forward: Erica Sloan, Utica
Defense: Julia Holmes, Nazareth
Defense: Madison Novotny, Utica
Goaltender: Angela Hawthorne, Utica

Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Allison Corser-James, Chatham
Forward: Abbey Luth, Nazareth
Forward: Ally Watrous, Nazareth
Defense: Olivia Gilida, Alvernia
Defense: Holly Silva, Utica
Goaltender: Julia Beaven, Alvernia

All-UCHC Honorable Mention
Forward: Ally Nolan, Chatham
Forward: Makenna Wiljanen, Nazareth
Forward: Carly Stefanini, Utica
Defense: Sydney Bradley, Alvernia
Defense: Holly Meredith, Manhattanville
Defense: Abigail Barcless, Wilkes
Goaltender: Franny Gerardi, Manhattanville

UCHC All-Rookie Team
Forward: Maeve Hourihan, Arcadia
Forward: Katrina Strauts, Lebanon Valley
Forward: Abby Flanagan, Nazareth
Defense: Abbi Komrofske, Arcadia
Defense: Tess Barrett, Utica
Goaltender: Sam Brophy, Chatham
 
ABOUT THE UNITED COLLEGIATE HOCKEY CONFERENCE
The United Collegiate Hockey Conference is a collaborative effort between eleven institutions to provide a competitive environment and structure for NCAA Division III men's and women's ice hockey in the Eastern United States. Our membership encompasses a wide geographic area spanning from Central and Western New York to the greater Pittsburgh and Baltimore areas. In its fifth season, the UCHC will incorporate the efforts of ice hockey student-athletes from Arcadia University, Alvernia University, Chatham University, King's College, Lebanon Valley College, Manhattanville College, Nazareth College, Neumann University, Stevenson University, Utica University, and Wilkes University into their strong, but evolving membership that strives for on-ice excellence while also preparing student athletes for their off-ice futures. For more on the UCHC, visit the league's homepage at http://www.TheUCHC.com, or follow the league on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/UCHCHockey.