The United Collegiate Hockey Conference announced its 2023-24 Women’s Award Winners and All-Conference teams on Wednesday, February 28. The awards were selected through an all-encompassing survey of the league’s 11 head coaches.

Graduate student Gabrielle Cox of Manhattanville College was named the 2023-24 UCHC Player of the Year. Cox leads all UCHC players with 24 goals and added 10 assists for 34 points and is second nationally, averaging 0.96 goals per game. She tallied five power-play goals, three shorthanded markers and five game-winning tallies. Cox has at least a point in 17 games this season and 10 multiple-point efforts with a four-goal, five-point effort against Neumann on Feb. 2. Cox tallied 75 goals and 105 points in 74 career games. She is the first Manhattanville student-athlete to earn Player of the Year honors.

Manhattanville junior defenseman Grace Genest was named the UCHC’s Defensive Player of the Year. Genest tallied 13 points on a goal and 12 assists in 2023-24 and was a team-best plus-18. She had 12 assists and was plus-14 in 2020 UCHC regular season contests. Genest is Manhattanville’s second UCHC Defensive Player of the Year, joining Morgan Miller, who won the honor in 2021-22.
 
Haylee Bouchard of Wilkes University was named the 2024 UCHC Rookie of the Year after tallying a league-best 37 points on 18 goals and 19 assists in 27 games played. She tallied 13 goals and 23 points in 20 UCHC regular season contests, while helping lead the Colonels to the league semifinals and their best season in program history with an 18-7-2 overall record. Bouchard is second among all first-year players in scoring and is tied for sixth nationally in points.
 
Nazareth junior McKinley Hoff was named the UCHC Goaltender of the Year. Hoff is 18-3-1 on the season with a 0.96 goals against average, .945 save percentage and seven shutouts. She went 16-0-1 in UCHC regular season play with a 0.71 goals against average and a .956 save percentage to go along with five shutouts. Hoff is second nationally with seven shutouts.
 
Nazareth head coach Chris Baudo is the 2023-24 UCHC Coach of the Year. Baudo has led the Golden Flyers to 21 wins, while the Golden Flyers won the UCHC Regular Season title and earned 59 of 60 points in league play. Nazareth is set to take on No 2 seed Utica in the 2023-24 UCHC Championship game on March 2. The Golden Flyers are in the top-10 nationally in virtually all major categories in Division III this season. It is Baudo’s third UCHC Coach of the Year honor (2018-19 and 2021-22). He has led the Golden Flyers to a 115-25-7 record in six seasons.
 
Madison Novotny of Utica University earned All-UCHC first team honors for the third consecutive year, while Holmes and Cox were repeat selections. Hoff, Bouchard and Karahkwenhawe White of Arcadia University also garnered first team accolades. Utica had six student-athletes earn all-conference honors to lead all UCHC programs.

The full complement of award winners is listed below.
 
2023-24 UCHC Women's Ice Hockey Award Winners
Player of the Year: Gabrielle Cox, Manhattanville
Rookie of the Year: Haylee Bouchard, Wilkes
Goaltender of the Year: McKinley Hoff, Nazareth
Defensive Player of the Year: Grace Genest, Manhattanville
Coach of the Year: Chris Baudo, Nazareth

First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Karahkwenhawe White, Arcadia
Forward: Gabrielle Cox, Manhattanville
Forward: Haylee Bouchard, Wilkes
Defense: Julia Holmes, Nazareth
Defense: Madison Novotny, Utica
Goaltender: McKinley Hoff, Nazareth

Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Ella Cedrone, Nazareth
Forward: Hailey Modlin, Utica
Forward: Carolyn Whitney, Utica
Defense: Ivey Lyden, Nazareth
Defense: Tess Barrett, Utica
Goaltender: Hannah Bergeron, Arcadia

All-UCHC Honorable Mention
Forward: Allison Corser-James, Chatham
Forward: Meredith Boettcher, Nazareth
Forward: Erica Sloan, Utica
Defense: Grace Genest, Manhattanville
Defense: Tilly Wierdsma, Wilkes
Goaltender: Angela Hawthorne, Utica

All-Rookie Team
Forward: Meredith Boettcher, Nazareth
Forward: Ella Cedrone, Nazareth
Forward: Haylee Bouchard, Wilkes
Defense: Allie Zack, Nazareth
Defense: Tilly Wierdsma, Wilkes
Goaltender: Audrey Milne, Wilkes
 
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.