Field Hockey | 8/25/2025 11:00:00 AM

LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis athletics department nominated two outstanding Saint Francis athletes for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Olivia Ulam from the Red Flash softball team and Dolores Zavaleta were both put forth for the national award. The duo advanced to the conference level, where the Northeast Conference (NEC) can nominate up to two female athletes to proceed to the next phase of the competition. The NEC will make its announcement on Wednesday.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletic excellence, community service, and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed, earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, and earned her undergraduate degree by summer 2024.

The NCAA Woman of the Year criterion is almost identical to the Northeast Conference's Team Student-Athlete of the Year Award, an honor Marsden won in June. The application consists of four parts: academic achievement (30 percent), athletic excellence (30 percent), service and leadership (30 percent), and a personal statement (10 percent). The school nominations proceed to the conference level, where each conference can select up to two student-athletes to advance to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee. This committee will identify the Top 30 – 10 from each division- and select three finalists from each division. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, named during a luncheon at the NCAA Convention. The Top 30 honorees are announced in October, and the nine finalists will be revealed in November. The 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced in January at the 2026 NCAA Convention.

Olivia Ulam's Resume
Academics
Ulam, a 2025 graduate of Saint Francis with a degree in early childhood education, had a 3.86 grade-point average. A three-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team representative, has been named to the Saint Francis President's List four times and the Dean's List in three semesters. Inducted into the 2025 Honor Society at Saint Francis for the School of Health Sciences and Education, she was named to the NEC Commissioner's Honor Roll (with a GPA of 3.75 or higher) and the NEC Academic Honor Roll (with a GPA of 3.20 or higher) four times during her career. 

Athletics Performance
The second four-time All-NEC first-team performer in only four years of eligibility, Ulam was named the 2025 NEC Gold Glove winner. Ulam, who batted .300 (3-for-10) with six RBIs, two homers, and six RBIs in the NEC Tournament, gave the Red Flash the lead for good in two of the three NEC Tournament games and was named to the NEC All-Tournament team for the second time in her career. Ranked as the No. 14 First Basemen in D1Softball Player Position Rankings in 2025, she ranked in the Top-10 in nine offensive categories in the league: batting average (.342, sixth in NEC), hits (53, third in NEC), runs scored (33, sixth in NEC), doubles (15 led NEC), homers (6, eighth in NEC), RBIs (34, seventh in NEC), total bases (88, third in NEC), slugging percentage (.555, eighth in NEC) and OPS (.954, ninth in NEC). In addition, she holds the top marks for putouts in a season (450, 2022; 423, 2024) and the fifth most doubles in a single season (19, 2024). Ulam was named the NEC Player of the Week five times (2024, five times) and an NEC Prime Performer 13 times (2025, one time; 2024, seven times; 2023, two times; 2022, three times). She continued the tradition that she initiated with the program, helping the Red Flash to three NEC Tournament titles and NCAA Regional appearances (2022, 2024, 2025), as well as three NEC regular season titles (2022, 2023, 2024).

Leadership/Community Service
Ulam was a three-year team captain of the softball team (2023, 2024, 2025), a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) (2024, 2025), and a member of the SAAC board (2025). She also did numerous community service projects with Scholastic Book Fair, Potato Fest, Free Kid's Softball Clinic, RED Day (4 years), Safe Trick or Treat (2 years), Canned Food Drive, Doggy Day Care Assistance, Seedz for Needz, Breast Cancer Walk Volunteer, Cleaning Campus after events (2 years), Alzheimer's Walk Volunteer, Service Project with My Kindergarten Student, Teaching Class (coffee sleeve donations) and the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The softball team won the Saint Francis University Athletics Community Service Award in 2025.

Dolores Zavaleta's Resume
Academics
Zavaleta, a 2025 graduate of Saint Francis with a degree in general engineering, had a 3.81 grade-point average. Just like Ulam, Zavaleta was the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, but Zavaleta made some history as the first field hockey player to earn the honor. A seven-time member of the Saint Francis Dean's List and once named to the President's List, Zavaleta received the Saint Francis Athletics 2025 Dr. Phillip Benham Scholar-Athlete award. Zavaleta is a member of the Gamma Sigma Epsilon Chemistry Honor Roll and was named to the NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad three times, while earning CSC Academic All-District honors in 2024-25.

Athletics Performance
Zavaleta was named to the All-NEC first team in 2024 after ranking second in the NEC in game-winning goals (3) and fifth in assists (5). The senior registered the game-winning tally against Ball State, Georgetown, and Stonehill. Zavaleta finished the season with four goals and six assists for 14 points.  Zavaleta, a queen of game deciders, had seven for her career, including all three wins against Georgetown. In addition, she had the game-winning assist in all three wins against Sacred Heart. Zavaleta missed out on the Top 10 for her career, finishing one assist and two points shy of cracking the list. Zavaleta ended her career with 10 goals and 18 assists for 38 points. 

Leadership/Community Service
Zavaleta was active in the community, working with the Special Olympics and Blood Drives, and serving as a student tutor. In addition, she served as a student tutor, Red Day volunteer, and participated in Sports For Kids Day, Patch Together, Safe Trick-or-Treat, and Pillow Cases for Humanity Day. Zavaleta also volunteered at Saint Francis basketball games and served as the football team manager.