ROSEMONT, Ill. - After a weekend posting seven points, including her first career hat trick, Northwestern field hockey's Olivia Bent-Cole was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. The senior forward represents Northwestern’s sixth appearance this season in weekly conference awards, as the No. 2 Wildcats (16-1, 7-0 Big Ten) have claimed their fourth consecutive Big Ten Championship.
Collecting her second weekly accolade of her career, and first since being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Sept. 25, 2023), Bent-Cole earns the honor after notching seven points in NU’s wins over No. 1 Maryland and Rutgers. The senior posted three goals in the ‘Cats’ 4-2 victory versus the No. 1 Terrapins and has the third-most points for the Wildcats this season. On Senior Sunday, Bent-Cole assisted on the game-winning goal to take down Rutgers 2-1, en route to NU claiming a share of the Big Ten Championship.
With 25 points on the year, Bent-Cole has tied her career-best and is fifth in the conference in points (1.67 points per game).
Her seven-point weekend performance increases her ‘Cats’ career scoring tally to 91 points, moving into 17th place on Northwestern’s career scoring leaderboard. This season, she has been a standout from both a scoring and facilitating standpoint. Her nine assists are just one off her career-high of 10 from 2025.
The two-time First Team All-Big Ten selection was also tabbed for last season’s NFHCA All-West First Team and All-American Third Team honors.
Three other ‘Cats have been selected for weekly conference honors this season: junior goalkeeper Juliana Boon (Defensive, Sept. 14), senior forward Ashley Sessa (Offensive, Sept. 21 and Oct. 5) and Ilse Tromp (Defensive, Sept. 28 and Oct. 19).
This week’s B1G field hockey award winners:
Offensive: Olivia Bent-Cole (#3), Sr., F, NU
Defensive: Emily Nicholls (#1), Jr., G, RU
Freshman: Ella Beach (#8), Fr., M, MD
Bent-Cole and the ‘Cats are 16-1 on the season (7-0 Big Ten) and seek to claim an outright conference championship this week, after clinching a share at home. NU will conclude its regular season at No. 19 Penn State, taking on the Nittany Lions on Friday, Oct. 30. Pass-back is slated for 2 p.m. CT, and the game will be streamed on B1G+.