After a historic season by the Saint Francis University women's lacrosse team, graduate student Autumn McHenry (Branford, Conn./Branford) and freshman Bella Fisher (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) have become the program's first two Northeast Conference (NEC) major award winners. McHenry has been tabbed as the NEC Midfielder of the Year, while Fisher has been selected as the NEC Rookie of the Year, announced by the league on Wednesday. 
 
McHenry and sophomore Chyler Espino (San Francisco, Calif./Saint Ignatius College Preparatory) have earned All-NEC first-team selections, while Fisher, freshman Bella Burke (East Moriches, N.Y./Center Moriches), graduate student Elyssa Enrique (New Canton, Ohio/Hoover) and junior Danielle Hernandez (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) have received All-NEC second-team recognition. Fisher and Burke have been also named to the NEC All-Rookie team. 
 
Coming into the season eight players in program history earned All-NEC recognition and the Red Flash earned six all-conference nods in 2023. McHenry is the only repeat All-NEC performer and she matches former teammate for most all-conference selections with three (two first team and one second team). The graduate student earned All-NEC second-team honors in 2021 before picking up first-team recognition in her last two campaigns.  
 
McHenry started all 15 games for the Red Flash and led the team with 52 goals and 16 assists for 58 points along with a team-best 81 draw controls and ranked second in caused turnovers (25) and third in ground balls (31). The graduate student registered three goals or more nine times this season including a career-high nine tallies against CCSU on April 15 and a career-best 10 points against FDU three days prior.  McHenry leads the NEC in goals per game (3.50) and ranks seventh in assists per game (1.14), second in points per game (4.64), fourth in shots per game (6.21), second in draw controls per game (5.40) and sixth in caused turnovers per game (1.60). McHenry leads NCAA Division I in free-position goals per game (1.47) and has moved into 11th place for free-position percentage (.647), 13th place in goals per game in the nation, 20th in goals (52), 23rd in points per game, 36th in points (68) and 35th in draw controls per game. 
 
Fisher ranked second on the team with 41 goals and third with 47 points and 38 draw controls. She registered six games with at least three markers including four of her last five matches. The freshman recorded a career-best six tallies in back-to-back games against CCSU and St. Bonaventure on April 19. In the NEC, Fisher is third in goals per game (2.86), fifth in points per game (3.29) and third in shots per game (6.64). 
 
Espino, a defender, ranks second on the team in ground balls (35) and draw controls (43) and third in caused turnovers. Espino grabbed a career-high 10 draw controls against St. Bonaventure and had had four matches with at least three draws. The sophomore also registered at least three ground balls seven times including two games with five ground balls and a season-high four caused turnovers against Merrimack on April 8. Espino is fifth in the league in ground balls per game (2.54). 
 
Burke, a defender, paced the team in ground balls (36) and caused turnovers (26). In her last six games, she tallied 26 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers including a career-high seven ground balls and six caused turnovers against Wagner in the regular season finale. Burke is seventh in the NEC ground balls (2.15) and ninth in caused turnovers per game (1.38) in all games, but she ended the regular season leading the circuit in ground balls per game (3.12) and caused turnovers per game (2.12). 
 
Enrique, a goalkeeper, registered 182 saves, 10.99 goals against average and a .540 save percentage. The graduate student recorded eight games with double figures in saves including four matches with 15 stops or more. She turned away a career-high and a program-tying 24 saves against Stetson on March 14. Enrique leads the NEC in save percentage (.539) and saves per game (12.07) and ranks fourth in goals against average (10.99). The graduate student leads the NCAA Division I in save percentage and ranks second in saves per game, fourth in saves (184) and 38th in the nation in goals against average. 
 
Hernandez, an attacker, leads the Red Flash in assists (25) and ranks second in points (64) and third in goals (32). The junior twinkled the twine three times in a game six times this season with four games with four tallies. She also dished out multiple assists seven times and had six points or more five times. Hernandez tallied a career-high nine points against Howard on March 29 including dishing out the second-most assist in a single game in program history with five feeders. She is seventh in goals per game (2.29), third in assists per game (1.64) and fourth in points per game (3.93). The junior is 53rd in the nation in assists per game and 59th in NCAA Division I in assists (20) and 74th in points per game. 
 
Saint Francis will make its first-ever NEC Tournament appearance in the semifinals against top seed Sacred Heart on Thursday. Match time is 1 p.m. 
 
ALL-NEC 1ST TEAM SELECTIONS 
2014     Danielle Conwell (Attack) 
2018     Peyton LeConte (Defense), Jessica Mazzur (Midfield) 
2021     Peyton LeConte (Defense), Emileigh Scott (Attack) 
2022     Autumn McHenry (Midfield) 
2023     Chyler Espino (Defense), Autumn McHenry (Midfield) 
              
ALL-NEC 2ND TEAM SELECTIONS 
2011     Kate Simmons (Attack) 
2015     Kimberly Gronski (Defense) 
2016     Holly Lawrence (Midfield) 
2017     Holly Lawrence (Midfield) 
2019     Peyton LeConte (Defense), Emileigh Scott (Attack) 
2021     Autumn McHenry (Midfield) 
2023     Bella Burke (Defense), Bella Fisher (Attack), Elyssa Enrique (Goalkeeper), Danielle Hernandez (Attack) 
 
NEC ALL-ROOKIE TEAM SELECTIONS 
2010     Danielle Conwell (Attack) 
2012     Samantha Barton (Midfield) 
2019     Autumn McHenry (Midfield) 
2021     Danielle Hernandez  (Midfield) 
2023     Bella Burke(Defense), Bella Fisher (Attack)