PLAYING IT SMART: Princeton University women’s lacrosse star Olivia Hompe, right, heads up the field in game this past spring during her senior season. Last week, Hompe was named as the 2017 Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA). (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Recently graduated Princeton University women’s lacrosse star Olivia Hompe ’17 has been named the 2017 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) announced last week.

Hompe, a native of New Canaan, Conn., carried a cumulative GPA of more than 3.5. in earning recognition as the top student-athlete in NCAA Division I women’s lax.

“Olivia personifies the ideal of the scholar-athlete,” said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer.

“She loves to learn, invests herself fully in both her education and her team, and embraces challenge of all sorts. She’s been a wonderful role model to her teammates and a shining example of achievement through passionate work. We are so proud of who Olivia is and all that she’s accomplished at Princeton and we’re grateful that she’ll be pursuing a career in the service of our nation.”

Earlier this month, Hompe
graduated summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs with a certificate in Near Eastern Studies. In February, she was chosen as one of four Princeton seniors for the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI), a graduate program where she will spend two years pursuing a master’s degree in the Woodrow Wilson School and two more working in a fellowship with a federal agency.

Proficient in Arabic, Hompe spent the summer of 2016 working in the intelligence community in Washington, D.C., embedded in a unit that developed both her language and analytical abilities related to the intersection of intelligence and national security. Her thesis was on U.S. Presidential Peacemaking, examining four historical case studies of attempts by Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Clinton to intervene as a third-party mediators and looking at the implications of these successes and failures for President Trump.

A finalist for the 2017 Tewaaraton Trophy, Hompe was named both a first-team All-America and the Ivy League Attacker of the Year. A three-time academic all-Ivy League selection, Hompe is a three-time unanimous first-team all-league honoree and three-time all-tournament team pick.

In her senior campaign this past spring, Hompe led the nation in goals and was third in points per game, setting the Princeton single-season record for points with 110 and goals with 75. She graduates as Princeton’s all-time leading scorer and goal-scorer with 285 points on 198 goals and 87 assists. During her career she helped the Tigers win four Ivy League titles and reach the NCAA Tournament all four seasons.

In July, Hompe will be competing for England in the 2017 FIL Women’s Lacrosse World Cup at the Surrey Sports Park near London.

Hompe is Princeton’s first IWLCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year since 2009 when it was awarded to Kristin Schwab ’09. The IWLCA began its academic awards in 2001.