MANAHAWKIN, N.J. -- Fourteen members of the 2024 Bates field hockey team were named to the NFHCA Division III National Academic Squad and three earned "Scholar of Distinction" honors, as announced this February by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. 

On Tuesday, the Bobcats were one of 69 Division III programs to earn the NFHCA Division III National Academic Team Award, for recording a team grade-point average of 3.5 or higher during the fall semester of the current academic year.

The NFHCA Scholars of Distinction program recognizes student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.9 or higher through the first semester of the 2024-25 academic year. 

Bates Scholars of Distinction this fall were sophomore Haley Dwight (West Newbury, Mass.), junior Summer Gordon (North Andover, Mass.), and first-year Izzy Grol (San Diego, Calif.), with Gordon now a three-time honoree.

Dwight, Gordon, and Grol join first-year Bella Bigelow (Alburgh, Vt.), first-year Madeline Conta (Campbell, Calif.), first-year Elsa Copeland (Toronto, Ontario), senior Anna Cote (New Gloucester, Maine), first-year Ava Donohue (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), senior Maria Femia (Canton, Mass.), first-year Rose Gordon (North Andover, Mass.), first-year Lilly Hogan (Westport, Conn.), junior Lucy Norris (Chicago, Ill.), sophomore Sophie O'Sullivan (Wellesley, Mass.), and senior captain Amanda Zerbib (Larchmont, N.Y.) on the NFHCA National Academic Squad, which recognizes undergraduate collegiate student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 or higher through the first semester of the current academic year. 

Cote, Femia, and Zerbib were named to the National Academic Squad all four years they were at Bates.

In 2024, the Bates field hockey team broke the program record for wins in one season with 14, advancing to both the NESCAC championship game and the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time.

The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) is a nonprofit organization serving field hockey coaches and supporters of the game from across the United States. The mission of the association is to champion, strengthen, and celebrate field hockey coaches and the game. The NFHCA strives to be the organization that every field hockey coach looks to for the resources to grow in the game and the inspiration to stay in the game.