WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Hartford Department of Athletics honored its student-athletes virtually with the 2021 Hawks Choice Awards. Held over the course of three days last week, each day featured a set of awards that honored the department's student-athletes and teams via several social media platforms for their performances in the classroom and on the field.

DAY ONE: ACADEMIC AWARDS

The first night of the three-day award show focused on the performances of Hartford's student-athletes inside the classroom, with the first set of awards recognizing the two teams that showed the most improved team grade point averages. Softball was recognized as the women's Most Improved Team GPA Award recipient after showing an improvement from a 3.70 GPA in the spring to a 3.76 GPA in the fall. On the men's side, soccer earned the award after going from a 3.31 GPA to a 3.53 GPA.
 
The highest men's and women's team GPAs were also recognized. Men's cross country and men's soccer each earned the award after each team posted 3.53 GPAs, while volleyball was honored after leading the women's teams with a 3.79 GPA.
 
Honoring senior student-athletes for their excellence in the classroom throughout their entire careers, the prestigious Dr. Edward Weinswig Outstanding Senior Scholar-Athlete Awards were the next set of awards to be announced. The awards were presented to Abby Myers from the women's track and field team and Wade Tucker from the men's lacrosse team. Myers' perfect cumulative GPA of 4.0 is the highest among all senior female senior-athletes, while Tucker's 3.85 cumulative GPA ranks first among Hartford's male senior student-athletes. 
 
Rounding out the first night of festivities was the presentation of the Hawk Spirit Award, awarded this year to former women's soccer player and current Academic Success Coach, Molly Socha.
 
DAY TWO: SAAC AWARDS

The second day of the Hawks Choice Awards featured the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Awards, which are modeled after the ESPY's and voted on by Hartford's student-athletes.
 
A total of seven SAAC Awards were handed out on Thursday night, including awards for the Best Record-Breaking Team Performance (men's basketball), Best Male Record-Breaking Performance (John Thrasher, baseball), Best Female Record-Breaking Performance (Elizabeth Lodge, track and field), Best Breakout Performance (Derek Tenney, baseball), Best Game (baseball vs. UAlbany), Best Moment (Nicholas Dombkowski completes no-hitter, baseball) and the Hawks Impact Award (Nyrik Antoine, men's soccer).

DAY THREE: ATHLETIC AWARDS

The third and final day of the 2021 Hawks Choice Awards was kicked off by the presentation of the Iron Hawk Awards, which recognizes student-athletes for their performance and leadership in the weight room. The Iron Hawk Award recipients were Jarod Norcross Plourde from baseball and Emma Curry from softball. 

The next award presented were the Newcomer of the Year Awards. Softball's Chandler Mitchell was named the Female Newcomer of the Year after earning America East All-Rookie Team honors as a freshman this past season. The Male Newcomer of the Year Award was presented to Rotem Fadida of men's soccer, who was named to the America East All-Rookie Team after leading the America East with three shutouts.

The next awards to follow was the presentation of the Men's and Women's All-Hawk Teams. The student-athletes that comprise the All-Hawk Teams were viewed as the top student-athletes among all of Hartford's 17 Division I athletic programs by head coaches and administrators.

The Women's All Hawk Team included: Megan Anderson (volleyball), Maddie Lindsay (volleyball), Abby Nash (volleyball), Elizabeth Lodge (women's track and field), Maria Loza (women's golf), Samantha Moravsky (women's track and field) and Danielle Rocheleau (softball). The Men's All Hawk Team members were: Traci Carter (men's basketball), Terrel Davis (men's track and field), Nicholas Dombkowski (baseball), Sergi Martinez (men's soccer), Matthew Schwab (men's golf), John Thrasher (baseball) and Austin Williams (men's basketball).

The 2021 Hawks Choice Awards concluded with the announcement of the major award winners, beginning with the Ted Stavropoulos Coach of the Year Award, which was awarded to head men's basketball coach John Gallagher. Gallagher earned the honor after leading Hartford to its first ever America East Championship to punch the program's first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

John Thrasher of the baseball team was named the Male Athlete of the Year. This past season, he became the program's fourth player to be named the America East Player of the Year. In addition, Thrasher inked his name atop the program's all-time (69) and single-season (37) record books in stolen bases after breaking each of those records against UAlbany on April 24.

Wrapping up the 2021 Hawks Choice Awards was the presentation of the Female Athlete of the Year, which was awarded to Maria Loza of the women's golf team. This past season, she became the first player in program history to repeat as the MAAC Championship's Individual Champion, accomplishing the feat in back-to-back years in 2019 and 2021. Loza earned six top-five finishes this past season and became the first player in program history to earn a berth and compete in the NCAA Tournament.