NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) has selected softball standout Ashleigh Tavaska, who graduated in May as one of Caldwell University's most decorated student-athletes in school history, as its nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the league announced today.

Tavaska, a health science major from Jackson, N.J., saved her best for last in her illustrious Caldwell University softball career. Her 2025 accomplishments include being named NFCA Third Team All-America, D2CCA Division II East Region Player of the Year, CACC Softball Player of the Year, D2CCA and NFCA All-East Region First Team, CSC Academic All-District and CACC Student-Athlete of the Month for March 2025. The two-time CACC Player of the Week honoree had a huge senior season, slashing .442/.456/.838 for a 1.294 OPS. She tallied 17 doubles, seven triples, and 10 home runs, scored 44 runs, and drove in 59 RBIs. 

As a four-year starter for the Cougars at shortstop, Tavaska ranks fourth in program history in home runs (22), eighth in batting average (.389), third in RBIs (182), 5th in doubles (60), first in triples (16), sixth in runs scored (149), ninth in stolen bases (45), first in total bases (417) and fifth in slugging percentage (.627). 

The NCAA Woman of the Year stresses not just athletic and academic performance, but service and leadership as well, another area in which Tavaska shines. She has been an active volunteer for numerous organizations, notably Caldwell's Student-Athlete Mentoring (SAM), Caldwell University Breaks the Stigma (CUBS), Strides against Breast Cancer, Semper Fi Marine 5K and Walk, Autism Speaks Walk, Rise a Pediatric Intensive Physical Therapy, Caldwell Service Day and more.

The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, consisting of representatives from NCAA member schools, will select the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division — from the pool of conference-level nominees. Later in the fall, the committee will narrow that group by naming the top three honorees per division, forming a total of nine finalists. From those nine, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year. All honorees will be recognized during the Woman of the Year Award Presentation at the NCAA Convention in Nashville in January.

Since its creation in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year program has celebrated graduating female student-athletes who excel in academics, athletics, community service, and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

Since graduation, she has begun the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Rutgers University.