Athletes

Ashley Sessa

Women’s Field Hockey - Ashley competed in her first Olympic Games for the U.S. Olympic Team at PARIS 2024.

Ashley was a member of the team when they won Silver at the 2023 Pan American Games and in the Olympic qualifying tournament in India in 2024 when the United States punched their ticket to Paris 2024. At Paris 2024, Ashley scored her first OLYMPIC Goal vs Argentina. The United States finished the event in 5th place in Group B and just missed out on reaching the quarterfinal.

Ashley won a NCAA Championship at UNC-Chapel Hill, but entered the transfer portal and is a sophomore at Northwestern University (Fall 2024) in the greater Chicago area. She is a native of the greater Philadelphia region.

In her first season at Northwestern, Ashley helped the Wildcats to win their 2nd NCAA National Championship in program history as well as her 2nd National Title. Personally, she led the B1G TEN in scoring by a WHOPPING 22 points over 2nd place and 35 points over her fellow teammate Maddie Zimmer who won the Honda Award as the National Player of the Year, she led the NCAA in points-per-game, finished 2nd in the NCAA total scoring and earned All-American First Team honors, NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team and scored the lone goal in the National Semifinal to help advance Northwestern to the Title game.

Off the pitch, Ashley has made donations of field hockey equipment in 3 Eastern United States markets in 2024 (Cape Cod, Charlotte and greater Philadelphia) - $7,500 worth of gear and will have another donation within the greater Philadelphia area in conjunction with her own 501 c(3) and major universities who open up their facilities for her summer clinics.

Courtney Ryan

Women’s Wheelchair Basketball - Courtney was named to her 2nd Paralympic Team and competed at PARIS 2024. Her team avenged their semi-final loss at Tokyo 2020 defeating China to advance to the Gold medal game where they fell to The Netherlands earning Silver.

She earned her first Paralympic medal at Tokyo 2020 where she and her teammates took home the Bronze for Team USA. Additionally, she has won a World Championship Bronze in 2023 and ParaPan American Games Champion in 2023 and Silver in 2019.

She is a graduate of the University of Arizona where she also serves as a Volunteer Assistant Basketball Coach for the women’s wheelchair basketball team which also allows her to continue to train for the U.S. Women’s National Team in the Tucson, AZ area. She is a native of the greater San Diego region.

Courtney had played professionally in Australia in the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (Sydney Metro Blues) prior to her position at her alma mater.

Maggie Steffens

Women’s Water Polo - Maggie is a 3x Olympic Champion, 5x FINA/World Aquatics World Champion & 4x Pan American Games Championships and holds all of the scoring records in the sport at the Olympics, World Championship and Pan American Games, she is considered to be the greatest female player in the history of the sport. Maggie competed in her 4th Olympic Games for the U.S. Olympic Team at PARIS 2024.

She holds two degrees from Stanford University where she won 3 NCAA Championships and won the 2017 NCAA MVP of the tournament, a bachelors and masters. She is a native of the northern California Bay Area. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the sports data analytic company 6-8 Sports.

Out of the pool, Maggie got married (Bobby) in Fall 2023 and serves on the World Aquatics Athletes’ Commission and is a resident of Long Beach, CA.

Paige Madden

Women’s Swimming - Paige is an Olympic Silver Medalist from Tokyo 2020 in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay & at PARIS 2024 earned an additional Silver Medal in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay and a Bronze Medal in the 800m Freestyle. U.S. Olympic Trials are in June in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium where Paige earned 3 spots in the 400m Free, 800m Free & 4x200 Freestyle Relay at PARIS 2024. During her U.S. National Team career, she has earned Gold, Silver & Bronze medals at the Pan American Games and World Championships individually and in team relay events.

In April of 2024, news reports came out that the Chinese relay team that won Gold ahead of Paige’s team at Tokyo 2020, had 23 members of their team dope but WADA & World Aquatics let them swim anyway being satisfied with the Chinese ADA report. This situation is being reviewed now and may result in their disqualification thus elevating the United States to Gold, Australia to Silver & Canada to Bronze. To be noted, Paige’s team would have broken the then World Record time with their swim that the Chinese set in that race.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia where she earned a Bachelors and Loughborough University, M.A. Clinical Exercise Physiology ‘23 in the UK where she earned a Masters degree. She is a native of Mobile, Alabama and today resides in Washington, D.C.

Emily Clark

Women’s Ice Hockey - Emily is a 2022 Olympic Champion for Team Canada and a 2024 IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Ottawa (now renamed the Ottawa CHARGE) having signed a three year deal that will keep her in the Nation’s Capital through the 2025-26 season.

During the inaugural season, Emily finished 9th in assists & 17th in PWHL scoring. On PWHL Ottawa, she was tied for 2nd in assists & 4th in points.

She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, a NCAA Champion and has a total of 3 IIHF World Championships and 2 Olympic medals in her career. She is a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Emily has participated in the NHL All Star Weekend in 2023 (Skills Challenge) & 2024 (PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase).

Kaitlyn O’Donohoe

Women’s Ice Hockey - Kaitlyn played 14 games for Brynas IF in the SDHL 2024-25 season. After receiving an invitation to PWHL training camp of the Minnesota FROST, she signed as a RESERVE player contract at the start of the season and subsequently signed a ONE-YEAR SPA due to injuries on the team with the understanding that she would go back to a reserve player when players would come off of LTIR.

Being a reserve player is a hard journey as you have to remain ready similar to how players in the G-League, Minor League Baseball and NFL practice squad works in a similar manner. This is the road of a professional athlete.

Kaitlyn is a graduate of Colgate University.

Kelly Pannek

Women’s Ice Hockey - Kelly is a 2018 Olympic Champion for Team USA and a 3x IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Minnesota (now renamed the Minnesota FROST), she was the first signed player in the history of the League agreeing on her 3 year deal. In the inaugural season, Kelly finished the regular season tied for 6th in assists, 4th in face-off wins and 6th in face-off percentage league wide. In the playoffs, she led the league in face-off wins & 3rd in face-off percentage (minimum of 25 draws). More importantly all of this work led to the inaugural championship for PWHL Minnesota to hoist the Walter Cup in a game 5 win over Boston.

Kelly & teammate Lee Stecklein are the first women to have won an Olympic Gold medal, World Championship, NCAA Championship & Walter Cup Championship.

A native of the Minneapolis-St Paul region and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, she is a NCAA Champion and has a total of 6 IIHF World Championship medals and 2 Olympic medals in her career. Additionally, Kelly is a part-time member of the broadcast team at Fan Duel Sports North Network on Minnesota Wild, PWHL & University of Minnesota coverage, she was nominated for a 2023 Midwestern Emmy Award for her work as a reporter on the “The Rundown”.

Kelly participated in the NHL All Star Weekend (Toronto) 2024 in the PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase.

Off the ice, Kelly is an avid golfer. She has hit 2 Hole-In-Ones (2021 & 2023) at local Twin Cities golf courses.

Maddie Rooney

Women’s Hockey —Maddie is a 2018 Olympic Champion for Team USA and a 2x IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Minnesota (now renamed the Minnesota FROST) , she joined the team in free agency and signed a two year deal in December 2023.

During the Inaugural PWHL season in 10 games played, Maddie had a 2.08 GAA & had a 5-3-2 record. After Nicole Hensley began the first round series vs Toronto, Maddie came in relief and was exceptional. While she lost the first game 1-0, she strung together a 173:19 shutout streak to help win the next 2 games and got the game 5 win at Toronto to complete the REVERSE SWEEP to advance Minnesota to the Final. In 5 games played in the Walter Cup Playoffs, she had a 1.12 GAA, 2 shutouts and a 0.948 save percentage (110 saves on 116 shots). PWHL Minnesota defeated Boston to win the Inaugural Walter Cup Championship.

A native of the Minneapolis-St Paul region and a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, she has a total of 3 IIHF World Championships and 2 Olympic medals in her career, she is the first U.S. Olympic goalie to earn for her team the Gold medal by winning a shootout.

In the summer time, Maddie and fellow PWHL Minnesota goaltender Nicole Hensley operated their inaugural summer goalie camp in Andover, MN (Summer 2024), the camp will return in 2025.

Renata Fast

Women’s Ice Hockey — Renata is a 2022 Olympic Champion for Team Canada and a 2024 IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Toronto (now renamed the Toronto SCEPTRES) having signed a three year deal that will keep her hometown region of the Greater Toronto Area through the 2025-26 season. She is a native of Burlington which is west of Toronto.

In the inaugural season, Renata finished the regular season as the Time-On-Ice & Hits leader in the PWHL, additionally she was 4th in Defender assists as well as tied for 4th in Defender points. From a team perspective, PWHL Toronto established a 11 game win streak which from a historic perspective of Toronto sports teams is tied for 2nd with the Blue Jays only trailing the Raptors all time. The greatest Toronto Maple Leafs win streak in over 110 years of play was 10. PWHL Toronto won the inaugural regular season championship over Montreal by 6 points. During the playoffs, Renata finished 2nd in hits, tied for 2nd in assists with 3, 9th in total points, tied for 3rd in Defender scoring while only playing 1 series.

A graduate of Clarkson University in NY State, Renata won the first NCAA Championship in school history in any sport during her time on campus. During her career with the Canadian Women’s National Team, she has won 3 IIHF World Championships, 2 Olympic medals and earned individual honors as Best Defender of the 2024 IIHF World Championship and been selected to the Media All Star Team in consecutive years in 2023 & 2024.

Renata has participated in the NHL All Star Weekend at San Jose 2019, Saint Louis 2020 & Toronto 2024 (PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase).

Off the ice, Renata got married in November of 2023 (Paul) and works part-time for TSN Sports. Additionally, she is the Chairperson of the Hockey Canada WNT leadership group and serves on the IIHF Athletes’ Commission.

Kaitlin Willoughby

Women’s Hockey - A professional hockey player for PWHL Toronto (now renamed the Toronto SCEPTRES) having signed a one year deal in the Inaugural Season and in year 2 of the league 2024-25 season. She is a native of Saskatchewan.

Prior to play in the PWHL, she played in the PWHPA from 2019-23 for Team Adidas & Team Scotiabank where she won the Secret Cup in 2021-22. In the final season of the CWHL, Kaitlin was a member of the Clarkson Cup Champion, Calgary Inferno in 2018-19.

A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan where she played 5 seasons of U Sports Hockey, she earned her Nursing degree and in the off-season she is a traveling nurse in Canada & the United States.

Sarah Nurse - broadcast, DEI & NHL-NHLPA only

Women’s Hockey — Sarah is a 2022 Olympic Champion for Team Canada and a 2024 IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Toronto (now renamed Toronto SCEPTRES) having signed a three year deal that will keep her hometown region of the Greater Toronto Area through the 2025-26 season. She is a native of Hamilton which is west of Toronto.

PWHL Toronto finished as the Regular Season champions in the League’s inaugural season highlighted by an Eleven game winning streak.

She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a 3x IIHF World Champion alongside of her 2 Olympic medals in her career. At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Sarah broke all previously held scoring records for the men’s & women’s tournament.

Sarah has participated in the NHL All Star Weekend in 2020, 2023 & 2024 (PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase).

Off the ice, she has worked previously for Sportsnet in Canada and NHL on TNT in the United States. Additionally, she serves on the Hockey Canada WNT leadership group, NHL Player Inclusion Coalition board and is a member of the PWHLPA Executive Board.