STFX’s Skye Koyote named 2024 AUS Women’s Rugby Most Valuable Player

2024 AUS women's rugby major award winners and all-stars announced

(HALIFAX, N.S.) - Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2024 women's rugby major award winners and all-stars as selected by the conference's four head coaches following the regular season.

Fourth-year back row/No. 8 Skye Koyote of the STFX X-Women has been named the AUS Most Valuable Player while UPEI winger Rowan Gallagher takes home the AUS Rookie of the Year award.

This year's recipient of the AUS Student-Athlete Community Service Award is Mia Fradsham – a fifth-year scrum half with the UPEI Panthers.

And for the 12^th time, STFX head coach Mike Cavanagh has been named the AUS Rugby Coach of the Year.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Skye Koyote, STFX X-Women

Atlantic University Sport Women's Rugby's Most Valuable Player for 2024 is Skye Koyote of the STFX X-Women.

In addition to being named MVP, Koyote was also named to the 2024 AUS All-Star team for the second time.

A fourth-year Human Kinetics students from Duncan, B.C., Koyote led her STFX team to a 5-1 record – good enough for first place in the AUS standings. Her four trys and 20 points was third amongst all X-Women this season and she led the team in tackles and carries.

Koyote was the X-Women's most consistent and impactful player – a leader on both offense and defense.

As the AUS MVP, Koyote becomes this year's Atlantic conference nominee for the U SPORTS Most Valuable Player Award. The only AUS player to win the national award was Ghislaine Landry from STFX, who earned the accolade in both 2007 and 2008.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Rowan Gallagher, UPEI Panthers

Rowan Gallagher of the UPEI Panthers is the 2024 AUS Women's Rugby Rookie of the Year.

The first-year Chemistry student from Halifax had a fine rookie season, suiting up in all six games and scoring four trys and 20 points to tie for third on her team. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 2-4 record – which placed them third in the AUS standings and a berth in the AUS rugby semifinals.

The UPEI winger becomes the fourth Panther to win AUS Rookie of the Year, joining Brinten Comeau (2018), Anneke Dykerman (2015) and Ashley MacDonald (2004).

In addition to being named the conference's top rookie, she was also named to the 2024 AUS All-Star team today.

With her AUS Rookie of the Year win, Gallagher becomes the Atlantic conference nominee for the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year Award. Past Atlantic conference recipients of the national honour include STFX's Akwaima Akpan just last season and former STFX standouts Ghislaine Landry (2006), Ashley Ward (2003) and Jodi-Lynn Powell (2000).

STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Mia Fradsham, UPEI Panthers

The 2024 AUS Student-Athlete Community Service Award recipient is Mia Fradsham of the UPEI Panthers.

A product of Marshfield, P.E.I. in her fifth year of eligibility, Fradsham is currently completing a Bachelor of Education degree at UPEI.

The Panthers scrum half helped her team capture the 2022 AUS Rugby Championship – the first in program history. In 2023, she was named one of 16 recipients across Canada as Lt. Colonel WDC Holmes Award winners – given to those rugby student-athletes who make a difference off the field at their university and in the community.

Fradsham has been an active member of the rugby community for a number of years, coaching at a variety of levels – including Charlottetown Rural Senior High and the U17 P.E.I. Abbies. She has also been named a female apprentice coach for P.E.I.'s 2025 Canada Games 7's rugby team.

She has been involved with hosting rookie rugby sessions in junior high schools across the province and helped organize the club team rookie rugby program and jamboree.

"Her commitment and dedication to the Panther program for the past six seasons has been unmatched," said Panthers head coach, James Voye. "She holds herself to an extremely high standard in her academics and as a varsity student-athlete. She has been a starting scrum half for the Panthers for six seasons and has been an important piece of the program, progressing and staying competitive each year."

She now becomes the Atlantic conference nominee for the U SPORTS Student-Athlete Community Service Award. The last AUS student-athlete to take home the national honour was Acadia's Kelsey Brumm in 2016.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Mike Cavanagh, STFX X-Women

STFX X-Women head coach Mike Cavanagh has been selected as the 2024 AUS Women's Rugby Coach of the Year.

Since women's rugby became an AUS-sanctioned sport in 2002, Cavanagh has earned this award 12 times – the last coming in 2019.

Cavanagh led his team to a 5-1 record this season, earning the first seed and bye to the AUS championship final by defeating Acadia on the last day of the regular season. His team scored a conference-best 191 points for, while allowing a conference-low 84 points against.

During the season, STFX was ranked as high as seventh in the nation.

Cavanagh now becomes the Atlantic conference nominee for the Jim Atkinson Award for the U SPORTS Coach of the Year. UPEI's James Voye was the most recent AUS coach to win the national award, having been named U SPORTS Coach of the Year in 2022.  

2024 AUS WOMEN'S RUGBY ALL-STARS

The following players have been named to the 2024 Atlantic University Sport women's rugby all-star team:

Front row/Prop: Emily Duffy, UPEI Panthers (5^th year—Saint John, N.B)
Front row/Prop: Emma MacDougall, STFX X-Women (5^th year – Halifax, N.S.)
Front row/Hooker: Kendra McDonell, STFX X-Women (3^rd year – Ottawa, Ont.)
Second row/Lock: Akwaima Akpan, STFX X-Women (2nd year – Halifax, N.S.)
Second row/Lock: Sophie Beck, STFX X-Women (4th year – Fall River, N.S.)
Back row/Flanker: Emma MacLean, UPEI Panthers (4th year – Cole Harbour, N.S.)
Back row/Flanker: Samantha Reid, Acadia Axewomen (1^st year – River John, N.S.)
Back row/#8: Skye Koyote, STFX X-Women (4th year – Duncan, B.C.)
Scrum Half: Katie Murphy, STFX X-Women (3rd year – Millville, P.E.I.)
Fly Half/Stand Off: Paige MacLean, UPEI Panthers (3^rd year – Summerside, P.E.I.)
Centre: Sara Grant, Acadia Axewomen (4th year—Melrose, N.B.)
Centre: Mychael Paris, Acadia Axewomen (3^rd year – Halifax, N.S.)
Winger: Rowan Gallagher, UPEI Panthers (1^st year – Halifax, N.S.)
Winger: Elliana Porter, Saint Mary's Huskies (2nd year – Bridgewater, N.S.)
Fullback: Katie Douglas, STFX X-Women (4^th year, Charlottetown, P.E.I.)

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The 2024 AUS Rugby Championship final will take place Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. in Antigonish, N.S. when the STFX X-Women host the Acadia Axewomen to compete for the Birks Memorial Trophy. The championship final will be webcast live at www.AUStv.ca.

The winner will move on to compete in the 2024 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship Oct. 30 – Nov. 3 being hosted by the UPEI Panthers in Charlottetown, UPEI. For more information on the national championship, click here.

The 2024 AUS women's rugby final standings are available here.

The 2024 AUS women's rugby final statistics are available here.