Field Hockey | 11/10/2025 1:21:00 PM

Granville, Ohio - After winning their second NCAC Tournament Championship in three years, the Denison Field Hockey team placed five players on All-North Coast Athletic Conference teams, with three of them gathering major awards. Junior Emma Gebhart was named Player of the Year for the second-straight season, and Tabitha Chandler was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year as well. First-year Lulu Keil took home Newcomer of the Year after finishing third in the conference in scoring. Senior Rachel Gilio was the third Big Red to nab first team honors, and senior Helen Breen received third team distinction.

First Team

Emma Gebhart (Player of the Year): Gebhart has been named first team All-NCAC and Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and collects Denison's seventh overall Offensive Player of the Year. The junior led the conference in goals (22), assists (9), and points with 53, seven more than the next. Gebhart also ranked first in shots (88) and shots on goal (60). She had five multi-goal games, including two games of scoring five goals against Wooster and Transylvania, which is tied for the most goals in a single game for this season across all divisions. Three of her 18 league goals were game-winners. In just three seasons with the Big Red, Gebhart has already etched herself in the record books, currently ranking third in points in a career (107) and goals in a career (46). Her 22 goals this season rank third for most goals in a season and her 53 points is second for most points in a season. 

Tabitha Chandler (Defensive Player of the Year): Chandler finds herself on the All-NCAC list for the third consecutive season, and the second-straight season as the Defensive Player of the Year. She became the eighth Big Red to claim Defensive Player of the Year honors, and helped Denison to its 16th-straight NCAC Tournament appearance. Chandler helped guide a Big Red defense to eight shutouts, allowing only three goals in conference play and 0.33 goals per game, both of which ranked second in the NCAC. The defense had seven games of four shots on target or less, and two games where an opponent did not get a single shot off. To go along with her defense, Chandler also dished off one assist on the season.

Rachel Gilio: Gilio has been selected to her fourth consecutive All-NCAC team, this time grabbing first-team honors for the first time in her Big Red career. The senior held a tough backline with Chandler to anchor the Big Red defense to eight shutouts on the year and a total of 15 goals scored on the Big Red. In addition, Gilio also netted two goals and had two assists on the offensive end.

Second Team

Lulu Keil (Newcomer of the Year): In her first year as a Big Red, Keil earned a spot on the All-NCAC second team list after finishing third overall in scoring in the conference. Keil is the eighth Denison rookie to receive the honor, and the first since Michelle Kabaira took home the honors in 2017. So far in her rookie season, she ranks in the top five in goals (11), shots on goal (29), game-winning goals (5), assists (5), and points (27). Keil has three multi-goal games and has back-to-back games of five points (two goals, one assist). 

Third Team

Helen Breen: Breen lands on the Third Team All-NCAC list for the first time in her four seasons at Denison. Breen finished tied third on the team in goals with four, and all four came in four-straight games. Breen also had two assists to total 10 points, which ranked third on the Big Red. In her Big Red career, Breen has played in 70 games and started in 44 of them, has a total of 22 points (nine goals, four assists), and two game-winning goals.

Up Next for the Big Red:

After clinching their spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Big Red will head out to the East Coast to take on Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland in the First Round of the tournament on Wednesday, November 12 at 4 p.m. The winner will head to Christopher Newport in Newport News, Virginia, on Saturday-Sunday, November 15-16, to compete in the second and third rounds.