Brown midfielder Joy Okonye has been named to the Hermann Trophy midseason watch list, placing the Providence program's senior among 30 players considered for the national women's soccer player-of-the-year award.
The Sept. 30 announcement included two Ivy League players: Okonye and Harvard's Anna Rayhill. The committee reduced a preseason list of 62 players to 30 for the midseason selection, according to Brown's announcement.
Okonye had three goals and six assists for 12 points at the time of the announcement. She led Brown in assists and points, and ranked second in the Ivy League in assists. Her 17 shots on goal and 29 total shots also ranked second in the conference.
The midfielder entered the list with 21 career assists, fourth in Brown's record book. She had appeared in 61 games, starting 58, and accumulated 11 goals and 43 points.
Her college record includes first-team All-Ivy selections in 2024 and 2025. Brown's player biography identifies her as the league's 2025 offensive player of the year, when she started all 17 games and finished with seven goals and five assists.
Okonye is from Lagos, Nigeria, and attended Canterbury School in Connecticut. Before Brown, she scored 93 goals in 52 games at Canterbury, according to her university biography. In her first Brown season in 2023, she led the Ivy League with eight assists.
The next stage of the award process will name 15 semifinalists on Dec. 4. Coaches will then choose three finalists, with the winner scheduled to be announced Jan. 8, 2027, in St. Louis. Brown's next match is at Penn on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m., with coverage on ESPN+.
Sources:
https://brownbears.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/joy-okonye/23798