In her first year with the Red and Blue, women's lacrosse freshman phenom Orly Sedransk has manned the cage particularly well.
Heading into this year, the Penn women’s lacrosse program was coming off a season that saw goalkeeper and three-year starter Kelly Van Hoesen graduate. Playing a pivotal role in the team’s run to an undefeated Ivy League season in 2023 and then an NCAA tournament quarterfinal appearance in 2024 that earned her Second-team All-Ivy and Honorable mention All-Ivy honors, Van Hoesen’s departure left big shoes to fill in the crease.
In enters freshman goalkeeper phenom Sedransk. Coming out of high school, Sedransk was the 11th-ranked recruit in the entire country as well as the top-ranked goalkeeper prospect. The Verona, N.J. native helped lead Montclair Kimberley Academy to back-to-back state championships while also featuring on the USA U18 and U16 teams. After trading in her white, green, and blue for the Red and Blue, it didn’t take long for Sedransk to make her presence known on the field.
In her rookie season with the Quakers, Sedransk started all but one game — the season opener against Drexel, where she split time with junior goalkeeper Caitlin Noack. In the team’s first-ranked matchup of the season against Johns Hopkins, Sedransk got the nod to start and solidified her place in the starting lineup after recording 13 saves. Sedransk would record 13 saves in two other games this season against Maryland and Cornell, but her best performance in terms of stats came against long-time archrival Princeton and perennial women’s lacrosse powerhouse Towson, where she recorded 14 saves in each game.
As of May 12, Orly amassed a save percentage of 0.503, averaging 9.56 saves per game, and her opponents averaged just 9.44 goals against per game. While she ranked fifth across the Ivy League for goals against, Sedransk’s save percentage and saves per game led the Ancient Eight. As such, Sedransk won not just Ivy League Rookie of the Year but also Ivy League Goalkeeper of the Year. And despite falling to Yale in the semifinals of the Ivy League Tournament, her 11 saves against the Bulldogs earned her a spot on the Ivy League All-Tournament Team.
Honorable Mentions: Freshman forward Katie Collins of Penn women’s basketball, freshman freestyle specialist Kayla Fu of Penn women’s swimming and diving.
Read about the rest of The Daily Pennsylvanian Sports' End of the Year Awards for the 2024-25 season here.
