Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player who won the 2022 NCAA woman of the year award for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic, died in a plane crash Saturday.

Groff — along with multiple family members — was flying on a private plane before it crashed in Copake, New York. Prior to the crash, the pilot radioed air traffic control requesting a new landing approach. Air traffic controllers relayed a low altitude alert to the plane three times, but received no response, according to the Associated Press.

Shortly before the crash, the pilot had radioed air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to say he had missed the initial approach and requested a new approach plan, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Sunday briefing. While preparing the new coordinates, air traffic controllers attempted to relay a low altitude alert three times, with no response from the pilot and no distress call, officials said.

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After reviewing video of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday the footage “appears to show that the aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground.” Investigator will continue to review the crash site. A full accident report could take a year or longer to complete, however.

Groff was a standout soccer player at MIT. At the time of her graduation, she ranked second in career goals and career points at the school. She also tied the record for goals in a game with four.

Groff majored in biological engineering, and co-founded openPPE in 2020, a project aimed at designing and manufacturing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was named the NCAA woman of the year in 2022. Her awardee profile mentioned Groff’s on-field prowess as well as her published and peer-reviewed papers on “epilepsy research and global health equity.” It also mentioned openPPE, which was founded “to help address the global shortage of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The NCAA women of the year program was established in 1991 and aims to honor “academic achievements, athletic excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions,” per the NCAA website.

Groff’s father, neuroscientist Dr. Michael Groff, mother, urogynecologist Dr. Joy Saini and brother Jared were also killed in the crash. Karenna’s boyfield, James Santoro and Jared’s partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte, were the other two victims in the crash.