Amelia Hughes is an American lacrosse player who represented Princeton University as a goalkeeper on its women’s team between 2023 and 2026. During her four-year collegiate career, she recorded 699 saves, finishing second on Princeton’s all-time women’s lacrosse career saves list.
Her collegiate achievements include Ivy League Goalkeeper of the Year recognition in 2024, a shared conference award in 2026, and Third-Team All-American selections from USA Lacrosse and the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA).
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Amelia Hughes |
| Sport | Women’s lacrosse |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper |
| High school | Wilton High School, Connecticut |
| University | Princeton University |
| Collegiate playing years | 2023–2026 |
| Career saves | 699 |
| Major honors | Ivy League Goalkeeper of the Year (2024), Co-Goalkeeper of the Year (2026), Third-Team All-American (2026) |
Who Is Amelia Hughes in Princeton Women’s Lacrosse?
Amelia Hughes played goalkeeper for the Princeton Tigers, wearing jersey number 12. She joined the university’s Division I women’s lacrosse program after graduating from Wilton High School in Connecticut in 2022.
She played as Princeton’s goalkeeper throughout her collegiate career.
Hughes started all 16 games during her freshman season in 2023 and continued representing Princeton through 2026. She earned conference-level recognition in each of her four seasons at Princeton.
How Her Wilton High School Achievements Led to Princeton
Before beginning her collegiate career, Hughes attended Wilton High School in Connecticut, where she developed a record of individual achievement in lacrosse.
She received high school All-American recognition in both 2021 and 2022. She also took on the role of team captain in her final year of high school.
According to Princeton’s official athlete biography, Hughes recorded a .630 save percentage across her final two high school seasons. That means she stopped approximately 63 percent of the shots on goal she faced during that period.
In June 2022, Good Morning Wilton included Hughes in a school athletics update identifying graduating athletes who would continue competing at the collegiate level. She was set to continue her lacrosse career at Princeton University.
In 2023, Hughes joined the Princeton Tigers, marking her first season competing at the collegiate level.
Her Freshman Impact and Breakthrough Performance in 2023
Hughes made 172 saves in 2023 while serving as Princeton’s starting goalkeeper throughout all 16 games of her freshman season. She led the Ivy League in total saves, saves per game, and save percentage.
One of her notable early performances came against Temple on February 25, 2023.
Princeton defeated Temple 17–9, with Hughes making 19 saves. Her performance earned her the IWLCA National Defensive Player of the Week award, announced on February 28.
The recognition came early in her collegiate career and was reported by the Stamford Advocate in April 2023.
Her freshman season ended with Second-Team All-Ivy honors, adding conference recognition to the IWLCA national weekly defensive award she received in February.
What Changed in Hughes’s Goalkeeping During 2024 and 2025
Hughes’s second season brought another level of recognition.
In 2024, she was named Ivy League Goalkeeper of the Year and received First-Team All-Ivy honors.
Her improvement was not limited to award results. In an interview reported by Town Topics on April 10, 2024, she discussed how her confidence had developed since her freshman year.
She explained that experience with the pace of collegiate lacrosse and greater familiarity with Princeton’s defensive system helped her become more comfortable in goal.
Communication with defenders was another part of that development.
Hughes described relying on her teammates for encouragement when mistakes occurred during games. She also emphasized the trust and communication required within the defensive unit.
In 2025, she appeared in 20 games, starting 19 of them. She recorded 180 saves and finished with a .481 save percentage.
Although she did not repeat her 2024 Goalkeeper of the Year award, she received Second-Team All-Ivy recognition.
Princeton also recorded her selection to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll in 2025, adding an academic distinction to her collegiate athletic record.
Across these two seasons, Hughes continued to accumulate saves while developing the experience that would carry into her senior year.
Her 2026 Season and National All-American Recognition
Hughes’s final collegiate season included several of her most significant individual awards.
On March 16, 2026, Princeton announced that she had been named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after recording 25 saves across games against Virginia and Penn State.
It was her fifth career weekly defensive award.
The following month, she received another major conference distinction.
On April 28, 2026, the Ivy League named Hughes its Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, sharing the award with Penn goalkeeper Orly Sedransk.
She was also selected to the First-Team All-Ivy team.
This was her second Goalkeeper of the Year recognition, following the individual honor she had received in 2024.
Her season statistics provided further context for those awards. She started all 18 games, made 190 saves, and finished with a .505 save percentage.
National recognition followed.
USA Lacrosse selected Hughes as a Third-Team Division I Women’s All-American in May 2026. The IWLCA separately named her a Third-Team All-American, with Princeton announcing that selection on May 21.
These were two distinct national selections, made by different lacrosse organizations.
Her senior season also included an NCAA tournament appearance. Ahead of Princeton’s game against Rutgers in May 2026, Hughes shared her thoughts with The Daily Princetonian on the importance of the team’s remaining fixtures.
With her Princeton playing days nearing their end, Hughes placed greater importance on making the remaining games count for her teammates.
Hughes also welcomed another meeting with Rutgers, a familiar opponent from Princeton’s New Jersey Cup rivalry.
How Hughes Reached 699 Career Saves at Princeton
By the conclusion of the 2026 season, Hughes had accumulated 699 saves across four years with Princeton.
Her year-by-year record included 172 saves as a freshman in 2023, followed by 180 in 2025 and 190 in her final season.
Published figures for Hughes’s 2024 season differ. In January 2025, Town Topics credited her with 157 saves, but a separate report from the same publication in February 2025 gave a total of 223. Princeton’s official career total of 699 is consistent with 157 saves in 2024 when combined with its recorded totals for her other three seasons.
According to Princeton’s May 21, 2026 announcement, Hughes finished second on the program’s all-time women’s lacrosse career saves list. She completed her senior season with 190 saves in 18 starts, closing a four-year collegiate career that began with 172 saves as a freshman.