Dalhousie Tigers midfielder, Megan Chiasson of Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia has been selected by the coaches as the 2021 Atlantic University Sport rookie of the year.
A first-year science student, Chiasson played in 12 regular-season games for the Tigers this season, getting the start in 11 of them.
The sixth-place Dalhousie Tigers—who finished the regular-season with a 4-3-5 record—led the AUS in shutouts, with seven, and finished fourth in goals scored with 19. Chiasson added one goal to the team effort.
She becomes the sixth Dalhousie player to be named AUS rookie of the year. Recent recipients of the award include Kate Fines (2017) and Jeanette Huck (2006).
Chiasson will now represent the AUS as the conference's nominee for the U SPORTS rookie of the year. The last two national rookie of the year awards have gone to Atlantic players: Cape Breton’s Alliyah Row in 2019 and Erin Freeman in 2018.
Holly Buckler, a fifth-year defender with the Dalhousie Tigers, is the 2021 AUS student-athlete community service award recipient.
A student in Dalhousie’s Master of Science in occupational therapy program, Buckler played and started in all 12 games for the Tigers this season.
The Halifax, Nova Scotia native is a leader in both the classroom and her community, achieving five A+s and four As in her last full academic year. She also received the FGS Second Round Allocation Scholarship for top students entering the second year of Dalhousie’s OT program.
Buckler is a student representative on the Nova Scotia Society of Occupational Therapists, where she attends board meetings, organizes events and advocates for student learning opportunities. She is also a past volunteer with MotionballU—where she helped to raise over $7,000 for Special Olympics Canada—with the Special Olympics Nova Scotia Winter Games and at a nursing home in Wolfville, N.S.
Buckler is the third player from the Dalhousie Tigers to receive the women's soccer student-athlete community service award. Other Dalhousie winners are Sydney Kenney in 2019 and Scarlett Smith in 2016. She will now represent the Atlantic conference as the nominee for the national student-athlete community service award. The most recent AUS student-athlete to win the national award was Kenney in 2019.
Third-year midfielder Riley Donovan has been selected as an AUS first team all-star for the first time in her career. She led al Tigers in scoring with eight, ranking her second in the conference.