Three Penn State women’s hockey players and head coach Jeff Kampersal earned Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference honors after a successful regular season, the conference announced Wednesday.

Atlantic Hockey America Announces 2024-25 Women's Individual Awards

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— Atlantic Hockey America (@Atlantic_Hockey) March 5, 2025

Junior forward Tessa Janecke continued to add to her award shelf, winning both the Vicki Bendus Forward of the Year and Meghan Acosta Player of the Year awards while also being honored as the conference’s scoring leader.

Janecke dominated with 24 goals and 28 assists for 52 points in just 36 games, including 28 points in 20 conference games. After taking both Forward of the Year and Player of the Year last season, Penn State’s all-time points leader became the first CHA/AHA player to win back-to-back Player of the Year awards since Brittany Howard of Robert Morris in 2017 and 2018. A Nittany Lion has now won five consecutive AHA Player of the Year awards.

Junior defenseman Kendall Butze took home the Molly Byrne Best Defenseman Award after a great season, which saw her dish out an AHA-high 22 assists. The Cleveland native had 25 total points, 32 blocked shots, and a plus-minus of +21 on the season. In a matchup against Lindenwood in November, Butze notched a career-high six-point performance with one goal and five assists. Izzy Heminger was the last Penn State defenseman to win this award in 2022-23.

Junior goalie Katie DeSa was awarded the Brianne McLaughlin Goaltender of the Year Award after a stellar campaign in net, leading the AHA with a 1.40 goals against average. In conference play, she was a brick wall in the net, registering a .947 save percentage, 1.13 goals against average, and recording seven shutouts in just 18 games. She is the first Nittany Lion goaltender to win this award since Josie Bothun in 2020-21.

In a span of two weeks, from January 17 to 31, she allowed just one goal on 112 shots with four shutouts in five starts. Overall, she went 26-5-0 on the season with a .934 save percentage in 31 starts.

Kampersal was named AHA Coach of the Year. Since taking the head coaching gig in 2017, he has led the program to three CHA/AHA regular season titles, four conference tournament titles, and has now won this award four times, including in each of the past three years.