Highlight Hoos 2021-2022: Amber Ezechiels | UVA Field Hockey

Reviewing the fantastic senior season of First-Team All-American Amber Ezechiels on the Virginia field hockey team

Courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

With the 2021-2022 Virginia athletics season officially completed, we enter the college sports offseason optimistic for things to come for the Cavaliers next season. But with the fall seasons still a couple of months away, we have time to take a look back at some of the incredible athletic accomplishments achieved by UVA student athletes during the 2021-2022 sports year in a series called Highlight Hoos.

So far, we've covered Diana Ordóñez (Virginia women's soccer), Mia Barnett (Virginia cross country and track & field), Leo Afonso (Virginia men's soccer), and Brooklyn Borum (Virginia volleyball). 

Today, we recap the incredible senior campaign of Amber Ezechiels, who saved her best season for the UVA field hockey team for last. 

Amber Ezechiels :: Courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

In the 2021 season, Ezechiels nearly doubled her career goal scoring total. She led the Cavaliers in scoring with seven goals and 19 points and was sixth in the ACC in points per game (1.00) and ninth in the conference in average goals with 0.37 goals per contest. 

On October 5th, Ezechiels was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring two goals, including the game-winner, in a dramatic double-overtime victory over Duke. Three weeks later, Ezechiels was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week after leading Virginia to three impressive wins against Syracuse, William & Mary, and Drexel. Ezechiels was the only player to win both the ACC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week awards this season. 

Behind Ezechiels' strong play at both ends of the field, the Cavaliers turned in a 12-9 overall record, including a thrilling run to the ACC Championship Game, and earned the program's 25th berth to the NCAA Tournament. Ezechiels assisted on a goal by Adele Iacobucci, but UVA fell to Maryland 2-1 in the first round to end the season. 

Ezechiels earned an abundance of accolades at the conclusion of the season. She was selected to the All-ACC First Team, marking the third time in her career that she was named to an All-ACC Team, and the second time she was voted First-Team All-ACC. Ezechiels was also named to the All-ACC Tournament Team. The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) selected Ezechiels as a First-Team All-American, her third time earning All-American honors in her career, but the first time being named a First-Team All-American. She was also named to the NFHCA All-South Region First Team. 

Ezechiels finished her career with 17 assists and 15 goals, five of which were game-winners, in 75 career games. An economics major, she was a four-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll and a four-time selection to the All-ACC Academic Team, fully embodying the definition of scholar-athlete. 

The Cavaliers will certainly miss Amber Ezechiels this fall, as she left a lasting mark on the field hockey program in her four years at the University of Virginia. 

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