Gabriela Hoops '19
Year: Class of 2025
Team: Women's Soccer
Hoops helped the WPI women’s soccer program make history in 2016 when she backstopped the Engineers to their first ever NEWMAC championship and NCAA tournament appearance.
During that season, Hoops posted a miniscule 0.34 goals-against-average and a 16-2-3 record, including 11 shutouts. For her efforts, which included an 8-1-1 record in league play, she was named the 2016 NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year.
One of those shutouts was a 1-0 double overtime win over Springfield in the NEWMAC semifinals. The next day, Hoops made four saves as WPI beat MIT 3-1 to claim their historic league title. A week later, in the NCAA tournament, Hoops tallied one more shutout, stopping eight shots over 110 minutes in a scoreless draw with Trinity (TX).
“Gabriela Hoops is a competitor”, quipped head coach Steph Riley-Schafer. “She has a drive towards excellence that makes a player successful both on and off the field. When she was in the goal, our team always had a chance, against any opponent. Athletic, determined, confident and skilled, Gabi was everything you’d want on a goalkeeper.”
That historic sophomore season was the jumping off point to a phenomenal WPI career in which Hoops posted a 35-14-9 record in net (19-9-6 NEWMAC record) with 24 total shutouts in 64 games played (60 starts). She made 238 saves in 5,518 minutes of playing time and had a career-goals against average of 0.63.
“Her leadership and talent helped our program to its first ever NEWMAC Championship and NCAA tournament appearance,” concluded Steph Riley-Schafer. “As much as she was a force on the field, her legacy is rooted in the teammate she was to others. She helped those around her to be better by offering thoughtful advice, uplifting encouragement, and exuding the confidence to compete. Gabriela is truly one of a kind.”
“Gabi’s energy, resilience, and passion for the game was contagious”, remarks teammate Juliana Cabello ’19. “Her presence in net gave us the confidence to play boldly, knowing she always had our backs. More importantly, her leadership and dedication on and off the field inspired us to grow as both competitors and teammates.”
Off the field, Hoops represented the women’s soccer team on WPI’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta women’s fraternity. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Patricia Graham Award for most outstanding woman student-athlete in the junior class.
Gabi currently lives in Atlanta with her fiancé John and works for Hawk-Eye Innovations, one of the premier sports technology companies. Hawk-Eye has partnerships with organizations like FIFA, the NFL, & NHL and Hoops has worked events like the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia, where she was selected to work the final between England and Spain. She credits her time at WPI and with Tech Women’s Soccer (TWS) for providing her the tools to work under pressure, adapt to new situations, and celebrate collective victories, that were all skills forged on the WPI pitch.
