ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The four-time United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) champions from the Elmira College women’s ice hockey team dominated the end-of-year awards ballots, as announced by the conference office on Monday.
Eight different Soaring Eagles received All-UCHC honors, as Elmira claimed four of the five major awards and five of the six spots on the 2021 All-UCHC First Team.
Coaches from around the league elected Jess Adams ’21 the Player of the Year, Jenny Heath ’22 the Defensive Player of the Year, and Elizabeth Hanson ’21 the Goaltender of the Year. It marks the second time in four seasons as members of the UCHC that EC has swept the Player, Defensive Player, and Goalie of the Year Awards. Head coach Tim Crowley also shared the 2021 Coach of the Year award with Utica College’s Dave Clausen.
The Soaring Eagles set a new program record with five All-UCHC First Team selections. Joining Adams, Heath, and Hanson are Tristen Tolan ’21 and Bella Hanson ’21. Emma Crocker ’21 and Eliza Beaudin ’22 were both Honorable Mentions, and Madi Morton ’24 was named to the All-Rookie Team.
Adams, who capped off the 2019-20 campaign as the UCHC Tournament MVP, earned her first-ever All-UCHC nod after leading Elmira with a career-high 29 points (9g-20a) as a senior. The Holliston, Massachusetts, native led the conference and ranked second in the nation in points, while her 2.07 points and 1.43 assists per game paced all Division III skaters this season. Adams had a point in 12 of 14 games played, including eight multi-point performances, and she tied a program record with six assists in a 12-0 throttling of Chatham on March 26.
The 2021 UCHC Defensive Player of the Year, Heath, was second among the conference’s blueliners in points (12) and ranked ninth in the country among defenders with a 0.86 points-per-game average. As part of a season-opening six-game point streak, the Pinckney, Michigan, native netted goals in the first two games of the year, highlighted by the game-winner in EC’s 4-1 victory over Nazareth in the 2021 opener. A keystone on the second-best defense in Division III, Heath helped the Soaring Eagles limit the opposition to a meager 0.79 goals per contest.
A 2019-20 All-UCHC Second Teamer, Elizabeth Hanson was promoted to the First Team as a senior and rightfully claimed the prize as the best goalie in the conference. Hanson’s 0.76 goals-against average ranked fourth among qualified netminders in the country, and she was tied for first in the nation in wins (12) and shutouts (5). Hanson will graduate atop the program’s all-time leaderboard with a .952 career save percentage.
In only 14 games during the abbreviated 2021 season, Tolan established career highs in points (25), goals (14), and game-winning goals (3). The Anchorage, Alaska, native was tied for third nationally in goals (14) and goals per game (1.00), and ranked fifth in points and points per game (1.79). Highlighting her six multi-point outings was a career-high five-point effort (4g-1a) in a blowout victory over Chatham on March 26.
A fellow Alaskan, Bella Hanson collected her first-ever All-UCHC accolade in 2021. The senior was the conference’s third-best scoring defender with eight points, all on assists, and registered 11 blocks. Hanson pieced together a five-game point streak that ended with a season-high two assists in the UCHC Championship quarterfinals against Neumann on April 1, the second multi-point game of her career.
The 2019-20 UCHC Player of the Year and AHCA First-Team All-American, Crocker amassed 19 points (11g-8a) across 13 games in 2021. Her five power-play tallies were first in the conference and tied for first in the country. She was one of only four skaters in the UCHC to finish with double-digit goals and ended the year 10th all-time in EC history with 111 career points.
Beaudin concluded the season with 20 points (9g-11a), trailing only Adams and Tolan with the third-most points in the UCHC. A three-time All-UCHC recipient, the Lewiston, Maine, product logged seven multi-point games, two of which came in the UCHC Championship Tournament. In the quarterfinal round, Beaudin posted a season-high four points (1g-3a).
Morton turned in a tremendous debut campaign in 2021. Originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, she led all blueliners in the UCHC with 14 points (2g-12a). On the national scale, Morton was fourth among defenders and tied for seventh among freshmen with an average of 1.00 points per game. She also earned a spot on the UCHC Championship All-Tournament Team with five points (1g-4a) in the playoffs.
Crowley is Elmira’s first Coach of the Year winner since in 2015. In his fifth season at the helm, He became the program’s all-time winningest coach with 98 career wins. The Soaring Eagles have won every UCHC regular-season and tournament championship in the past four years under Crowley’s tutelage.
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