DAHLONEGA -- The University of North Georgia Athletics hosted the 9th Annual Golden Nighthawk Awards Gala Wednesday evening in Lynn Cottrell Arena in the UNG Convocation Center to celebrate a historic year in North Georgia Athletics. The Gala is presented by Northeast Georgia Health System. 

The blue carpet was rolled out as student-athletes arrived  dressed in their best suits and gowns.  

The evening began with the Senior Hawk Walk, where all senior student-athletes shook the hands of all 11 UNG head coaches and received their graduation stole and framed letter signifying their time spent at UNG competing for the Nighthawks.  

Following the Senior Hawk Walk, student broadcaster Robert DiClemente, held a special recognition of the 2023 National Championship softball team, which concluded with a video highlighting the final game from May 2023 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Following the opening programming, all guests enjoyed a buffet-style Italian dinner. 

After dinner, the awards portion of the evening began where 15 awards were presented, including male and female scholar athletes, highest team GPA, Noble Nighthawk Service Award, and Comeback Athlete of the Year, in addition to ten awards that were voted on by coaches and administrators. A complete list of those awards and both the nominees and winners can be found below.  

Female Newcomer of the Year
Emily Trushel, Women's Basketball – led the team in points, rebounding and minutes while ranking top-5 in the PBC in six different categories including top-3 in field goal percentage, free throw percentage and defensive rebounds per game. 
Rylie Moody, Softball – Ranks second on the team in fielding percentage and fourth in home runs and slugging percentage while hitting .318 on the year. Moody aided UNG this year with 6 multi-RBI games and 7 multi-hit games at the plate 
Adleigh Wheeler, Women's Soccer – Notched 4 goals and 6 assists on the year. Her 6 helpers placed her in the top-10 in the PBC. Was named to the PBC All-Conference Second Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Second Team. 
Nealeigh Broadwell, XCTF - Posted a trio of top-30 finishes & was named the PBC Freshman of the Year in XC. In track & field, posted a pair of top-10 finishes in the 3000-meter steeple, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in the UWG Invitational 
Abby Franks, Women's Golf – Her season is highlighted by five top-30 finishes which includes three top-15 results and a second place, even-par finish at the Jerry Surratt Memorial in March. 
Ansley Hall, Women's Basketball - led the conference in assists and assists per game while leading the team in steals, assist to turnover ratio and ranking second in points, field goal percentage and three-point percentage. 

 WINNER - Emily Trushel, Women's Basketball 

 Male Newcomer of the Year
Aram Lara, Men's Soccer - scored a pair of goals this season while leading UNG and ranking third in the PBC with 9 assists on the year which broke previous school record for assists in a season. Named PBC Freshman of the Year 
Noah Darden, Baseball - has recorded a hit in 24 of his 26 games played this year and has reached base at least once in all 26 games. Went on a 16-game hitting streak & has been named PBC Freshman of the Week 3x. 
Jack Vajda, Men's Golf – two top-10s and a top 25-finish in the fall, & in the spring has a pair of top-10 appearances including a win at the Tennessee River Rumble. Carded an opening round 67 at five-under par and held on for a two-stroke win. 
Phillip Ard, Baseball – leads the team in batting average, walks, slugging percentage, on base percentage and home runs. ranks in the top-10 in the PBC in all those same categories. 
Marcos Castellanos, Men's Tennis – Has a 9-6 singles record, which includes a victory to help the Nighthawks defeat No. 11 Lander. In doubles play, picked up wins in his two appearances in the #1 doubles spot against Augusta and No. 17 UWF 
Hunter Smith, Men's Golf – Has four top-20 finishes, including his best career finish tied for 4th at the UWF tournament, to help the Nighthawks secure the 2nd place finish. 

WINNER - Phillip Ard, Baseball 

Team Comeback of the Year
Men's Soccer – rallied from trailing by a goal at halftime to come back and beat No. 16 Clayton State thanks to a 61st minute goal from Payge Sinclair and a penalty kick winner in the 86th minute from Santiago Cano. 
Women's Soccer - Down 2-0 heading into the 75th minute against Lander in PBC Semifinals, the Nighthawks rallied & scored in the 76th minute and in the 87th, to force extra time. UNG won on penalty kicks to advance to the PBC title game. 
Men's Tennis – after dropping the doubles point against No. 16 AUM, the Nighthawks rallied with singles wins from Benoit, Sassi, Eldin and Alcalde to win the match 4-3 overall, sealing the team's first win over a ranked opponent. 
Baseball – In the bottom of the 9th, the Nighthawks trailed 6-2 against No. 15 GSW. A Phillip Ard home run sparked a five-run rally that culminated with a two-run walk off base hit from Andrews Opata. 
Men's Basketball – Down 7 at the half, and with 1:52 left to play fought to within 4. The Nighthawks forced overtime where they eventually snapped LMU's nation-leading 63-game home winning streak with an 89-83 victory. 
Softball – Down 6-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning against UAH, Georgia Blair hit a game-tying three-run home run followed by a walk off infield single from Marycille Brumby to score Caroline Branch and win the game 7-6. 

WINNER - Women's Soccer 

 Best Female Individual Performance
Angelina Linnikova, Women's Tennis – against Flagler, took down the No. 2 singles player in the country in three sets to win the #1 singles match. Her victory helped seal a 5-2 win over the Saints and moved the Nighthawks to 16-0 
Ansley Hall, Women's Basketball - shattered a 28-year-old program record on Jan. 20 with 15 assists in a 103-38 win against USC Beaufort. She did so while turning the ball over only once & was responsible for 47 UNG points in the game 
Claire Mills, Cross Country – In the 2023 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, she finished with a time of 22 minutes and 5 seconds, one second shy of the all-time UNG cross country record, and qualified for the National Championship 
Elysa Walter, Rifle – against VMI, set the all-time UNG individual aggregate scoring record with an astonishing 1186 score, breaking the previous record by 15 points. This performance helped the program break the team aggregate scoring record. 
Katie Ward, Softball - after recording her first career home run just nine days prior, Ward belted three home runs in a 14-5 Nighthawk win over GSW. Her performance tied the most HRs hit in a single game in all of NCAA Div. II this year 
Sierra Fowler, Women's Soccer – In the PBC semifinals, recorded 4 saves in regulation. Trailing 3-2 in the shootout, she scored a PK to make it 3-3. Then saved the next two penalty shots from Lander, sending the Nighthawks to the PBC Championship 
Ellie Rippee, Women's Golf - aided by a career low four-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Low Tide Intercollegiate, earned medalist honors for the first time in her career. finished at two-under-par overall in a tie for first place 
Ella Stoudenmire, Track & Field - With a 2nd place finish in the 800-meter, and her 5th podium finish of the year, Stoudenmire broke a seven-year record with a time of 2:12.27 

WINNER - Sierra Fowler, Women's Soccer 

 Best Male Individual Performance
Ethan Day, Men's Golf – made UNG history at the Cateechee Fall Invitational with back-to-back six-under 65s in the first two rounds of the tournament and went on to break the 54-hole Nighthawk men's golfing records 
Frank Champion, Men's Basketball – Had a career-high 33 points on 7-of-13 shooting and had a record-breaking effort at the free throw line. His 19 free throws are the most in a single game in PBC Tournament history. 
Phillip Ard, Baseball – Hit 2 home runs against GSW which helped spark a 5-run comeback in the bottom of the 9th for the Nighthawks 
Joaquin Benoit, Men's Tennis – on the road against No. 2 Flagler, helped take down the 17th ranked doubles pairing nationally in a 6-3 win. And beat the No. 11 singles player in two sets 
AJ White, Men's Basketball – scored a career-high 32 points on a near perfect night shooting, going 10-of-14 from the floor and stunning 6-for-6 from downtown, on the road against No. 25 Florida Southern 

WINNER - Ethan Day, Men's Golf 

Most Outstanding Team Performance
2023 Softball – in the National Championship, UNG bested GVSU in 2 games, outscoring them 10-3. They recorded a college softball record, winning more games than any team, on their way to hoisting the program's 2nd National Championship trophy 
Men's Golf – shattered a program record in the Cateechee Invitational. Posted a 37-under-par scorecard, with four of their five individuals finishing in the top-10. The team broke the previous program record by 15 strokes 
Women's Soccer - against Albany State, scored 10 goals and recorded 11 assists. 7 different Nighthawks scored in the game led by Katey Derkay with a hat trick. Maysoon El-Shami and Meghan O'Brien had two assists each 
Rifle – broke the program scoring record numerous times, culminating in a record-setting win over No. 19 The Citadel. Breaking the air rifle record with a score of 2360 & shooting 2297 in smallbore, led to a new program aggregate scoring record 
Women's Basketball – Took down their highest ranked opponent with a 72-57 win over No. 3 Catawba. The 15-point margin of victory is the largest over a top-10 opponent in program history. Made a season high 23 free throws 
Men's Basketball – The Nighthawks beat rival Lander 70-67 in the program's first ever NCAA SE Regional Championship win. Four Nighthawks scored in double figures in the thrilling victory in front of a record crowd of 3,767 fans 
Softball – shutout Columbus State 9-0 on the road. Denton struck out 4 batters while only allowing 3 hits. All Nighthawk runs came from a home run, which included 2 grand slams 
Women's Tennis – vs. No. 9 Flagler, the Nighthawks secured a dominant 5-2 win, the program's first win there since 2010. Wojcikova & Lippert defeated the No. 5 doubles pairing in the country & Linnikova took down the No. 2 singles player 

WINNER - 2023 Softball 

Most Outstanding Female
Sophie Mooney, Softball – In the National Championship tournament, Mooney hit for .478 average while adding six RBIs and striking out zero times. She was named the NCAA Division II Championship Most Outstanding Player 
Elysa Walter, Rifle – Led the Nighthawks in both Smallbore and Air Rifle scoring averages this season. Ranked in the top-30 nationally in scores & was named to the All-SoCon Smallbore and Air Rifle First Teams 
Maysoon El-Shami, Women's Soccer – the lead goal and points scorer for the Nighthawks, which included 3 game winning goals. Was named to the PBC All-Conference First Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-American First Team 
Claire Mills, XCTF – In cross country, finished top-10 in five of the seven events & named the PBC Runner of the Year. In track & field, has already finished on the podium five separate times & leads the league in steeplechase time 
Tybee Denton, Softball – Holds a 22-1 record, she has more wins than any pitcher in the country while also holding the highest winning percentage of a pitcher nationally. Leads the country in fewest hits allowed per seven innings 
Angelina Linnikova, Women's Tennis – Is the No. 9 ranked singles player in the country with a 16-2 record. Climbing as high as No. 7 in the singles rankings, she earned the highest women's singles ranking in program history 
Emily Trushel, Women's Basketball – ranked in the top-10 league wide in 10 different categories including points per game, rebounds per game, field goal percentage and free throw percentage. Named to the PBC All-Conference team 
Bailey Vessell, Women's Soccer – the PBC Defender of the Year was named to the PBC All-Conference First Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team after starting all 22 games recording 2 goals and 2 assists 

WINNER - Sophie Mooney, Softball 

 Most Outstanding Male
Joaquin Benoit, Men's Tennis – Competes in both the #1 doubles & singles spot. Has a singles record of 9-2 and a doubles record of 8-3 and is 3-1 in matches against ranked opponents. Climbed as high as No. 22 in national rankings 
AJ White, Men's Basketball - Ranked fourth in the PBC in points per game while leading the league in total points and ranked in the top-5 in five other categories. Named to the PBC All-Conference First Team and the NABC All-District First Team 
Ethan Day, Men's Golf – Has four top-15 finishes this year, including a record breaking second-place finish in the fall. His record-breaking performance goes down as just the second double-digit strokes below par performance in program history 
Santiago Cano, Men's Soccer – The leading goal scorer this season with 8 goals on the season the forward cracked the top-10 in UNG history for most goals scored in a single season. Was named to the PBC All-Conference Second Team 
Frank Champion, Men's Basketball – became UNG's all-time leading scorer this season on the way to his second consecutive All-American season. Led the PBC in points per game, field goal percentage, free throws made, total assists, and assists per game 
Andrews Opata, Baseball – leads the team in hits, runs and triples while leading the team and ranks second in the PBC with 22 stolen bases having only been caught once. He is batting .309 with four home runs and 28 RBIs at the time of voting 
Will Chambless, Men's Golf – Has finished eighth place or better in four tournaments this spring (fourth or better in three of them). Had his best performance of the year at GCSU earning medalist honors in first place with a two-under-par outing 

WINNER - Frank Champion, Men's Basketball 

Team of the Year
Men's Golf - With nine top-3 finishes, four team wins, three individual wins, and 20 individual top-10 finishes; the Nighthawks have held the No. 1 spot in the national rankings for 30 consecutive weeks 
Men's Basketball – Climbed as high as No. 6 in the nation. Won the PBC Tournament Championship, the Southeast Regional Championship, advancing to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.
Women's Soccer – Finished as Regular Season champions with an undefeated record in conference play. Returned to the Southeast Regional for the fourth straight year and ended the regular season with a 14-3-3 record 
Women's Tennis – a record-breaking season with an 18-0 start, UNG has shattered the previous record for consecutive wins in program history. Four wins are over nationally ranked opponents. Their dominance landed them the No. 3 spot nationally 
Softball – The No. 2 Nighthawks rank as one of the best offenses in the country, ranking in the top-10 in hits, doubles, on base percentage, runs scored & total bases. Secured the 10th consecutive PBC regular season championship 

WINNER - Men's Basketball 
 
Play of the Year
Emily Trushel, Women's Basketball - Last second layup vs. GCSU to beat the Bobcats. 
Grace McGill, Women's Soccer – Scored the last second goal at No. 19 Lee to keep the Nighthawks undefeated 
Mariah Wicker/Marycille Brumby/Georgia Blair, Softball – Cut down game-tying run at home in seventh inning vs. USC Beaufort to end the game 
Andrews Opata, Baseball – Two-run walk off single vs. No. 15 Georgia Southwestern to seal the five-run comeback in the ninth inning 
Santiago Cano, Men's Soccer – Scored the go-ahead PK goal with under four minutes vs. No.16 Clayton State 
Josh Sosa, Baseball – Inside the park home run vs. Emmanuel which gave the Nighthawks the lead 

WINNER - Grace McGill, Women's Soccer 

Noble Nighthawk Service Award: Katey Derkay, Women's Soccer & Max Garnett, Men's Soccer  

Male Scholar Athlete of the Year: Jacob Lassiat, Baseball (Undergraduate) & Noah Zediker, Men's Golf (Graduate) 

Female Scholar Athlete of the Year: Ella Stoudenmire, Cross Country/Track & Field (Undergraduate) & Danielle Humprey, Women's Golf (Graduate)  

Highest Team GPA: Women's Tennis, 3.75 GPA  

Comeback Athlete of the Year: Arielle Aronoff, Women's Soccer