Recognizing the next seven top performers of the 2024 season.
June 12, 2024 by Anna Browne and Theresa Diffendal in Awards with 0 comments
Each year, Ultiworld presents our annual College Awards. Our staff evaluates the individual performances of players from throughout the season, talking to folks around college ultimate, watching film, and look at statistics, voting upon the awards to decide those to be honored. The regular season and the college Series are both considered, with extra emphasis for performances in the competitive and high-stakes environment at Nationals.
Our All-American teams recognize the top performers across the division. While in the past we have closed our Awards with our First Team and Second Team, displaying the top seven and next seven players who had the best seasons, they have been moved up in the schedule.
- Player of the Year
- All-American First Team
- All-American Second Team
- Offensive Player of the Year Award
- Defensive Player of the Year Award
- Breakout Player of the Year Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- Coaches of the Year Award
D-III Women’s All-American Second Team
Hayden Ashley (Portland)
The 2023 ROTY runner-up continued what is shaping up to be a storied college career in 2024, providing offensive poise and defensive pressure en route to Portland’s dominant national performance. Frequently serving as the hub handler, her break throws and field vision moved UPRoar into more dangerous attacking positions and allowed for quick-flowing offense, which she frequently capped with a dish or strike into the end zone. And don’t ignore her defense, complete with run-through blocks which kept scores against Portland to a minimum.
Mallori Boddy (Portland)
One of just two seniors on UPRoar, Boddy took advantage of every second of her last college season to play some of her best ultimate yet. Galian’s hucks were rightly praised, but she needed someone to throw it to, and Boddy’s relentless pursuit of the disc, frame-perfect timing, excellent reads, and repeated willingness to hit the ground – she almost brought the tournament to an end in spectacular fashion with one such bid – brought down score after score for UPRoar. Her hunger to return to the national final served as an emotional bedrock for the team, powering Portland to their first championship.
Maddy Brown (Carleton)
Don’t let Brown get lost behind Dong and Saraniti, she’s an absolute grinder. While Brown doesn’t pop out on the stat sheet, her contributions came more from her athleticism and energy she brought to every point. Brown simply outworked her matchups, leading to wide open unders where she dumped it back to a handler then found herself right back in the stack. Her biggest impact on the field came on defense though. While she only secured six blocks at Nationals, Brown focused on playing lockdown D, taking the toughest matchups and effectively erasing them from the game. Brown was one of the only players who had any success at slowing down Galian, our POTY.
Erica Collin (St. Olaf)
Collin has a natural sense for getting the disc regardless of what defensive system is thrown against Vortex. As the leading goal scorer on St. Olaf with a stat line of 13G/5A/6D/7T, Collin played with incredible efficiency. Using her height to her advantage, Collin’s explosive first couple steps gave her large amounts of separation from her defender. Knowing her strengths, Collin played within her role as an unrecoverable cutter, focusing on getting the disc back to the strong Vortex handler core.
Emily Mulhern (St. Olaf)
Just a sophomore, Mulhern emerged in 2024 as the star driver of one of the most dominant teams at Nationals, increasing her assist output sevenfold from 2023 to finish tied for third overall in assists at the tournament. She initiated most every possession for Vortex and capably flexed between the patience and vision needed against the frequent zone looks and the increased pace and attack required versus person matchups. Her calming presence in the backfield provided a constant free reset as her timing and spacing, paired with an excellent jab step, continually facilitated breakside and upfield movement.
Laine O’Neill (Davenport)
Davenport put to rest any questions how they, the newest team on the block, would fare at their first-ever Nationals with aplomb, and largely thanks to the play of Laine O’Neill. The lefty wielded a deadly backhand that excelled at quick give-gos to reset the stall until she found her spot downfield with a precise shot or aired-out huck. Running almost every possession for the Panthers from first pickup to throwing the assist – she had nearly three times the assists (21) of the second-most on her team (8) – her prior elite experience easily allowed her to slip into the role of a field marshal, directing a younger cutting corps nearly to an upset in prequarters.
Bella Steedly (Wellesley)
Coming off of a strong 2023 season with a ton of graduating stars, there were questions as to whether Steedly was a role player or could assume a greater load as a standout star on Wellesley. Falling back into the handler space or providing the initiating cut to kickstart the Whiptails’ offensive flow, Steedly continued to shine in 2024 with exceptional hucks and consistent resets. But perhaps her greatest area of growth was her defense; using her legs and height to cover ground faster than almost any matchup, Steedly racked up 21 blocks on the tournament, nearly triple her 2023 numbers and 10 more than any of her teammates.
