Decker and Kennedy named to NEWMAC Second Team All-Conference

Westwood, Mass. -- Julia Decker '26 and Shannon Kennedy '24 have been named to the NEWMAC Field Hockey Second Team All-Conference. The NEWMAC released field hockey postseason awards on Thursday after head coaches from member institutions voted following the conclusion of the 2023 regular season. 

Decker and Kennedy stepped up to lead the team during the program's first year in the NEWMAC, impacting both the team's results on the field and the team culture as a whole. 

"Both are high performance leaders," said head coach Jennifer Foster. "They work hard every day to make themselves and their teammates better. They're motivated to make the team succeed. They realize they can't do their job as forwards without the mids and defense behind them. Off the field they both are strong student-athletes and their discipline in the classroom also shows on the field."

Kennedy, a senior forward from Royersford, Pensylvania played in 48 games as a Seahawk. Kennedy made 26 career goals, 14 career assists and took 133 shots on goal. In 2023 Kennedy started every contest, made 14 goals and had ten assists. 

Decker, a sophomore forward from Newton, New Jersey has appeared in 31 games so far. She's scored a total of 21 goals, made 2 assists and took 60 shots on goal. In 2023 Decker started 15 games, made 18 goals and had two assists. 

"Julia and Shannon had some amazing goals this season," said Foster. "Julia's game winning goal on a corner versus Springfield earned us our first ever NEWMAC win, something I know the coaches and players will never forget. Shannon came up big as well scoring on, or setting up, several corner goals this fall as our top hitter from the top."

Coach Foster recalls the team's first season in the NEWMAC and what the team did successfully with the help of Decker and Kennedy, hoping to build upon the work they put in during the 2023 season. 

"They worked well together and, along with fellow starting forward Georgia Costello, we had a lot of speed and skill up on the forward line this season."

The Seahawks finished the season 10-6 overall and 4-5 in conference with NEWMAC wins over Springfield College, Wheaton College, Mount Holyoke College and Clark University. 

View the full NEWMAC postseason honors release: https://newmacsports.com/news/2023/11/9/newmac-releases-2023-field-hockey-postseason-honors.aspx