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Bridgewater, NJ -- Taking the conference by storm, Howard sophomore Paris Fieldings (Chesapeake, VA/Enlightium Academy (NC A&T)) claimed the NEC’s most prestigious women’s golf accolade after a dazzling debut campaign.
 
Fieldings became the first-ever Howard student-athlete to win NEC Golfer of the Year honors, headlining a quartet of All-NEC honorees for the Bison.
 
A stellar showing at the NEC Championship propelled FDU’s Michelle Yang (Sydney, Australia/Cammeraygal) to the NEC Rookie of the Year award. 

Guiding the Knights to the program's tenth NEC title this past April, FDU's Rob Warren was voted NEC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career.

Fieldings capped off a memorable first year at Howard by capturing the 2025 NEC individual title in Williamsburg, VA. Sinking a birdie on the final hole to clinch the victory, the Chesapeake, VA native finished three strokes clear of the field to become Howard's first NEC individual champion. The transfer from NC A&T hit her stride late in the fall season and never looked back, booking top-six finishes in six of her final seven events, concluding with the top prize at the conference meet. Fieldings placed third at both the Bridgetown HBCU Invitational in October and the Arcis HBCU Championship in February. She also posted top-five outings at the Eastside Golf Invitational and Lady Bison Invitational. Fieldings averaged 74.8 strokes per round in 2024-25, matching teammate Kendall Jackson for the lowest mark on the NEC circuit. She was named NEC Golfer of the Week on March 12.

Yang's steady improvement throughout her freshman season culminated with a fourth place finish at the NEC Championship in April. Closing strong with a 1-over 71 in the final round - tied for the best round of the meet - she vaulted seven spots up the leaderboard over the final 18 holes. The Sydney, Australia native was the top freshman finisher in the field. She completed the season with a 76.8 stroke average, highlighted by a fifth place effort at the Rutgers Invitational in her penultimate meet of the season. Yang was the lone freshman to be awarded All-NEC honors with her selection to the second team. She became FDU’s seventh NEC Rookie of the Year, joining Tomita Arejola (2019), Julia Warke (2018), Anneke Strobach (2016), Gabriela Santini (2015), Michele Holzwarth (2008) and Eve Mayr (2007).
 
For nearly two decades, Warren has kept FDU at or near the top of the NEC and the 2024-25 season was no exception. The Knights edged Howard in a thrilling back-and-forth battle for the conference supremacy, with the Knights rallying to win the NEC crown by one stroke in the closest finish in championship history. This tenth title - nine of which have come under Warren's leadership - extended FDU's league record and marked the first hardware for the program since a three-peat run from 2018-21. Along with Yang earning NEC Rookie of the Year honors, Warren mentored a trio of All-NEC second teamers - Yang, Apichaya Chirakunakorn (Chonburi, Thailand/American School of Bangkok), and Anete Adul (Koogi, Estonia/Loo Secondary) - after all three turned in top-five finishes at the NEC Championship. Warren's four NEC Coach of the Year awards ranks second all-time.
 
AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS
 
Howard (four) and FDU (three) combined for seven of the ten spots on the All-NEC postseason list.
 
Of the ten student-athletes named to the All-NEC teams, three were underclassmen. Fieldings and Stonehill’s Helen Brodahl (Portland, OR/Ida B. Wells), both sophomores, earned first team recognition, while Yang claimed a spot on the second team as the lone freshman honoree.
 
Howard occupied three of the five spots on the All-NEC first team, highlighted by veteran Kendall Jackson's (Pearland, TX/Pearland) fourth career All-NEC accolade and third consecutive first team nod. She placed fourth at the NEC Championship, the third top-five finish of her career. Averaging 74.8 strokes per round, Jackson tied Fieldings for the best mark in the conference and collected five top-ten finishes, including runner-up efforts at both the Lady Bison Invitational and the Women in Golf National Collegiate.

Howard junior and fellow first-team selection Marley Franklin (Los Angeles, CA/Notre Dame), the 2022-23 NEC Rookie of the Year, took her game to the next level this season. She finished third in the NEC in round average (75.4) and recorded four top-five finishes, headlined by a runner-up performance at the Eastside Golf Invitational. Morgan Horrell (Dallas, TX/Hebron), a 2024 All-NEC first team selection, earned a spot on the second team this year. She captured the individual crown at the Bridgestone HBCU Invitational and averaged 76.4 strokes per round to rank fourth in the NEC. 
 
Adul, a three-time second-team honoree, was joined by Chirakunakorn and Yang, who made their initial appearance on the All-NEC second team. Adul placed in the top ten three times during her graduate campaign, marked by a third-place finish at the NEC Championship. Chirakunakorn saved her best for last, earning runner-up honors at the conference meet. Adul led the team with an average of 77.2 strokes per round, while Chirakunakorn followed closely with a 77.9 average.

North Carolina Central's Trinity Ahing (New Bern, NC/New Bern) maintained a 77.4 strokes-per-round average to claim a spot on the All-NEC first team. The senior recorded a season-best third place showing at the Elon Invitational last fall, then capped her season off with an eight-place finish at the NEC Championship.

Brodahl rounded out the first team honorees after recording 76.8 strokes per round in 2024-25, the fifth-best mark in the league. The Portland, OR native logged back-to-back top-ten finishes to the year, placing fifth at the Rutgers Invitational and sixth at the NEC Championship.
 
In its inaugural NEC women's golf season, Chicago State junior Gia Lamba (Noida, India/Step by Step School Noida) was tabbed to the All-NEC second team. Her strongest showing of the year came at the Starks Invitational, where she claimed the individual crown. She also finished in the top-five in back-to-back weeks at the Hammock Beach Invitational and Hornet Invitational in March. Lamba concluded the year boasting a 77.1 stroke average.
 
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 44th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#8). Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#87). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.