VICTORIA (U Sports) – Rachel Donohoe, a fourth-year forward from the University of British Columbia and Olivia Lane a third-year forward from the University of Guelph, were named the U Sports co-players of the year in women's field hockey, Wednesday morning.
 
Donohoe a North Vancouver, B.C., native became the fourth UBC winner of the Liz Hoffman Award, and first since 2011. She follows in the footsteps of Robyn Pendleton, who won five years ago, Christine De Pape (2006) and Stephanie Jameson (2004). Lane, who hails from Guelph, is the third different recipient of the award, after former Gryphons Brittany Seidler (2012) and Brienne Stairs (2009 & 2010).

U Sports women's field hockey:@ubctbirds' Donohoe, @guelph_gryphons' Lane named players of the yearhttps://t.co/lU75izOqzi pic.twitter.com/cBpUa7jzHe

— U Sports (@USportsCA) November 2, 2016

 
The 2016 CIS - Field Hockey Canada championship gets underway Thursday at the University of Toronto and culminates Sunday at 3 p.m. with the gold-medal final.
 
Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index
 

LIZ HOFFMAN AWARD (player of the year): Rachel Donohoe, UBC & Olivia Lane, Guelph

 
Donohoe, a fourth-year kinesiology major, made her return to the UBC Thunderbirds this season after spending 2015 playing professionally in Germany. Donohoe is the lynchpin of the T-Bird defense, a relative black hole for opposing forwards. Offensively she is a gifted playmaker who starts rushes for UBC's offense with her pinpoint passes from the back-end.
 
A clinical finisher who can score goals when given the opportunity, Donohoe played her high-school field hockey at Argyle Secondary in North Vancouver, B.C.
 
"She was always a dynamic defender but I think her confidence is at all time high right now," said UBC head coach Robin D'Abreo. "She is working the ball up field so effectively. It causes the opposition a lot of grief."



Along with Donohoe's honour, her Thunderbird teammates Hannah Haughn and Stephanie Norlander were name to the U Sports All-Canadian team.
 
Haughn is a fifth year Thunderbirds who studies in the UBC School of Kinesiology. Norlander is in her fourth year with UBC. She was the leading scorer in Canada West this season with six goals.