These three defenders put forth amazing and impactful seasons.
June 16, 2025 by Felicia Zheng and Edward Stephens in Awards
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 awards continue with the Defensive Player of the Year, recognizing the individual, and two runners-up, who we felt were the top defensive performers this spring. Whether through generating blocks, shutting down options, helping out teammates, or all of the above, these defenders stood out doing the tough work that too often go unrecognized.
- Player of the Year
- All-American First Team
- All-American Second Team
- Defensive Player of the Year Award
- Offensive Player of the Year Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- Breakout Player of the Year Award
- Coaches of the Year Award
- Full Awards Voting Breakdown
D-I Women’s 2025 Defensive Player Of The Year
Lauren Goddu (Washington)
What a luxury it must have been for Element to have enough depth of talent generally and at athletic positions specifically that they could afford to plant Lauren Goddu on the D-line. And what a gift it was to those of us who got to watch her toil in those trenches.
Goddu’s play was a reminder of how a voracious accumulation of microskills can result in a massive overall presence. She calculated angles better than any veteran land surveyor to close down lanes just when opposing handlers thought they would open. Her downfield footwork was as intricate and precise as a Bach fugue. When she opened up her wingspan on the mark, it was like Batman flaring his cape while looming over a ne’er-do-well. The work she put into her craft, like the dedication with which she plied it every point, was apparent to everyone, not just the sickos and connoisseurs. She was a truly versatile shutdown player, the kind we all want to be when we practice.
And then there are the parts of her game that go beyond practice. When the time came to get the disc, Goddu coiled and pounce, or charged up and leapt, or simply accelerated straight through better than anybody in the division. She had an uncanny sense of when to disable her internal governor and max out her effort, and an uncanny sense of how to make sure that however much energy her match put into pursuing a disc, she would always be pushing just that much harder. None of her nine blocks (placing her among the tournament leaders) were cheapies, and almost all of them helped Washington’s success rate. All in all it was a stupendous performance for the sophomore.
– Edward Stephens
First Runner-Up
Lauren Szeto-Fung (UBC)
Even though this is Szeto-Fung’s very first season with the Thunderbirds, she is clearly a perfect match for their defensive philosophy. All year, she has exemplified the suffocating, in-your-pocket defense that took UBC all the way to the title. A defender’s impact can often be seen by the matchups they take on and what they’re able to do against them — and in the biggest moments, Szeto-Fung was often tasked with stopping the other team’s best player. In the semis, that was Vermont’s Caroline Stone, whom Szeto-Fung was able to force into some errors. Her power was on full display in the final, where she was given the Chagall Gelfand assignment and managed to notch three ds that game, including a flying block. With every game, Szeto-Fung proved she wasn’t just a newcomer, but a defensive force who’s already defining what it means to play Thunderbirds defense.
– Felicia Zheng
Second Runner-Up
Fiona Cashin (Colorado)
Just when you thought you had seen everything Fiona Cashin had to offer, she up and transferred to a Colorado program that could give her one thing she lacked during her undergrad career at Georgia: lots and lots of big games. Of course she took the opportunity to show out. A consummate stopper with one of the most inevitable bid-triggers in the game, Cashin was tough, nimble, tireless, and high-flying for Quandary’s entire campaign. Her intrepid play to generate dozens of takeaways gave Colorado a windfall of possessions and was one of the key reasons for their success in 2025.
– Edward Stephens
