America East All-Conference and future sports broadcaster Alicia Battistelli is doing amazing things at Vermont.
Sports have always been a part of Vermont’s Alicia Battistelli’s life. Whether it is on the field or on the sidelines reporting on other Catamount sports, she is an inspiring woman in sports. I was able to sit down with Alicia and hear her story and what she aspires to in the future as a woman in sports.
Growing up in Palmyra, Pennsylvania, Battistelli has always played field hockey and was fortunate enough to train in a premier high school program. Her high school success earned her NFHCA First Team All-State honors and a spot on Max Field Hockey’s All-Pennsylvania Region First Team. She was also ranked among Max Field Hockey’s Top 100 players in the Class of 2023. As a senior captain in 2022, she scored 21 goals and added nine assists while helping Palmyra reach the Pennsylvania state championship game.
When it was time to look at pursuing her athletics to a collegiate level, Batistelli got many offers from other Division I schools, but fell in love with Burlington.
“It was important to me to have a lot of things to do outside of school. I love the area up here [Burlington] and I just really connected with the coaches and the team culture and everything and decided this was the right place.”
She arrived in Vermont in 2023 and made a quick name for herself, appearing in 15 games as a first-year player. She recorded her first collegiate point against Syracuse on Aug. 27, 2023, assisting on a goal. Her role continued to grow during her sophomore season, when she played in all 20 games and earned 11 starts.
Her breakthrough came during her junior season in 2025. Battistelli appeared in all 19 games and started six, scoring nine goals and recording two assists for 20 points. Three of her goals were game-winners, and she logged a career-high 623 minutes. Her production helped establish her as one of Vermont’s key offensive players, and she was ultimately selected to the America East All-Conference First Team as well as the All-Academic Team.
Battistelli’s development coincided with an important period in Vermont field hockey history. In 2024, the Catamounts won their first America East championship and earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. The following season, Vermont captured a share of the regular-season title and hosted the America East Tournament for the first time. Battistelli’s First Team All-Conference selection in 2025 reflected her growing importance to a program that had established itself as a stronger presence in the conference.
The ball has not stopped rolling this year, with her scoring a career-high three goals in a 6-0 shutout over Merrimack, recording her first career hat trick. Her three goals came in different parts of the game, including the opening goal and two fourth-quarter tallies. The performance came during a three-game Vermont winning streak and helped the Catamounts improve to 7-1.
Before this season ends and a potential fifth season begins, and once she becomes a Catamount alumna, there is much to reflect on her time here and Battistelli wants to be remembered as hardworking no matter what obstacles come her way. “Being the type of person that’s going to work hard at whatever they do. I think that’s something that was instilled in me, as I was growing up and just giving your 100% to everything that you do and having integrity and you might not be the best at something, but you’re gonna work the hardest at it and being open to every opportunity and just working with the core values that, you know, and live by.”
Away from the field, Battistelli has also developed an interest in sports media. At Vermont, she has pursued public communication and has gained experience as a sideline reporter for UVM men’s and women’s basketball broadcasts on ESPN+. This was not a shock, as sports have surrounded Battistelli her entire life;
“Sports has always been such a big part of my life, and seeing all sides of it really gives me a deeper appreciation for it and for all the people that make it happen. A lot of times athletes only see what happens on the field and the hard work that goes into that, but there are so many other things that go on behind the scenes to make it successful. I never want to lose that passion and be able to make work fun every day by doing something that I’m so interested in.”
This experience has given her an opportunity to build skills in broadcasting and sports journalism while continuing her career as a college athlete. Her combination of field hockey accomplishments, academics and growing experience in sports media has made her Vermont career about more than just what she has accomplished on the field.
