A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE
Massachusetts boasts 16 Atlantic 10 Championship titles and 26 trips to the NCAA Tournament in the program's storied history, capturing over 600 wins along the way.
UMass reached the inaugural NCAA Championship Game in 1981 and was one of only two programs to punch a ticket to the first 13 NCAA Tournaments held.
The Minutewomen four times have reached the NCAA Final Four and advanced to the Elite Eight on seven other occasions.
Since the program's inception in 1975, current and former Minutewomen have taken home 62 NFHCA All-America honors, a Broderick Award and represented the U.S. Senior National Team 11 times, plus Olympic teams on 10 occasions.
Hannah Prince, pictured, made the U.S. Senior National Team after graduating from UMass in 2014.
Prince served as a captain on the USA Field Hockey Indoor National Team from 2015-2021. In 2018, she helped the team secure the FIH Indoor World Cup, and was a 2017 Pan American Gold Medalist. Prince earned 17 caps with the USA Indoor National Team, while totaling seven with the USA Outdoor National Team form 2014-15, playing against New Zealand, Argentina and Ireland.
A four-year starter at UMass, Prince aided the Minutewomen to three Atlantic 10 titles and just as many NCAA appearances, including the NCAA Elite Eight. The 2013 co-captain claimed NFHCA All-Region First Team, All-Atlantic 10 Conference First Team and ECAC All-Star First Team selection throughout her collegiate career.
Prince began her collegiate coaching career at the University of New Hampshire (2015-17), helping to guide the team to a pair of American East Championship games during her time. She spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Joseph's University (2017-18), where she helped the team to a pair of A-10 regular season and postseason championships, reaching the NCAA Tournament each year, including the program's first NCAA bid in 2017. In 2019, she was part of the Spiideo/NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year at Princeton, after the Tigers advanced to the finals of the national championship, won the Ivy League title and completed the season 16-5, which included a 13-game win streak. Prince spent time as an associate head coach at the University of Louisville, after joining the staff in March 2021, and helped lead the Cardinals to the 2021 ACC regular season title and to two NCAA Tournaments, including the program's first Final Four appearance. She is currently the head coach at Saint Joseph's, as she completed her first season with the Hawks in 2022 winning an Atlantic 10 Championship title for an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Prince and SJU advanced to the Second Round after claiming a 3-1 victory over No. 10 Wake Forest in the First Round.
Marlise van Tonder, pictured, was named to the South Africa National Team as a traveling reserve for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in June 2021.
van Tonder became the fourth UMass goalkeeper to represent their home country in the Olympics, following Patty Shea (USA; 1988, '96), Hilary Rose (England; 1996, 2000) and Alesha Widdall (USA alternate, 2016). She joined UMass alumnae Sarah Hawkshaw in Tokyo, who represented her native country of Ireland.
In the summer of 2018, van Tonder represented South Africa in the Vitality Women's Hockey World Cup in London, as she was one of only two active NCAA field hockey players to accomplish the feat.
ROLL UMASS
History of the Atlantic 10's all-time winningest program
The University of Massachusetts field hockey program has reached the NCAA Tournament 26 times and won 16 Atlantic 10 Championships, both more than any other team in the league.
Under the direction of the legendary Pam Hixon (1978-93, 1996), the Minutewomen earned the right to postseason play every season. Judy Strong, pictured, remains the program's all-time leading scorer nearly 40 years after concluding her playing career.
Patty Shea provided the University of Massachusetts field hockey program with a lockdown goalkeeper from 1980-83. As a competitor, Shea helped guide the Minutewomen to 65 victories and an NCAA Championship Game in 1981.
Following a 15-year career with the U.S. Senior National Team, Shea took over as the head coach at her alma mater in 1997. The 2000 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year subsequently guided the team to five NCAA Tournament appearances and five Atlantic 10 Championships. She concluded her tenure as head coach with 104 victories, second-most in school history.
The 1992 squad, shown, made the program's fourth Final Four appearance. That came on the heels of a thrilling win over Penn State in overtime, 1-0, before a packed crowd of over 1,500 fans in Amherst.
In 1999 and 2000, the Minutewomen closed one millennium and began another with trips to the Elite Eight after taking home the third and fourth of five consecutive Atlantic 10 Championships.
They say success breeds success, and that has held true at the University of Massachusetts. The Minutewomen reached postseason play four times in the last decade including an Elite Eight in 2013.
At left, Lauren Allymohamed celebrates after an overtime goal in the 2013 Atlantic 10 Championship which was hosted by UMass.
Alumna Sarah Hawkshaw (2014-17) was part of two Atlantic 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament teams with the Minutewomen and now holds a spot on the Ireland National Team. She graduated ranked eighth in program history in career scoring (92 points) and seventh in goals (40).
UMass Today
Barb Weinberg
Head Coach
Seventh Season • Iowa '05
A two-time All-American goalkeeper, Barb Weinberg enters her seventh season at the helm of Massachusetts field hockey.
In Weinberg's six campaigns Massachusetts has made tremendous on-pitch strides. Five Minutewomen were named NFHCA All-Americans, 24 earned NFHCA Northeast All-Region honors and 48 Atlantic 10 postseason awards have been awarded in Amherst, including the 2021 A-10 co-Coach of the Year honor.
Weinberg's squad was one of the most academically talented in the country in 2019, placing a program-record 20 student-athletes on the NFHCA National Academic Squad, tied for most in Division I. The team’s Fall 2019 GPA of 3.66 ranked fifth in the nation and 17 Minutewomen made the Dean’s List. Two student-athletes had perfect 4.0 GPAs in Fall 2019.
A 2005 Iowa graduate, Weinberg was a two-time All-American, three-time All-Big Ten performer and two-year team captain for the Hawkeyes (2000-04). She was also a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and the team's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient in 2004. She started all four of her seasons in the cage for Iowa as the Hawkeyes totaled 46 victories during her tenure.
Weinberg was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team from 2005-10, making 19 international appearances in that span. She also served as the alternate goalkeeper for the U.S. at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Gladchuk Field Hockey Complex
Massachusetts debuted another in its line of recent sport facility construction projects with the introduction of the Gladchuk Field Hockey Complex in Fall 2015. The new home field gives the team its first dedicated competitive arena in program history.
The complex features eight water cannons used to dampen the field prior to competition. The eight strategic locations, four along each sideline, allow for 100 percent coverage of the turf surface while the state-of-the-art underground system allows for recycling of what is sprayed onto the playing field.
The surrounding exterior to the facility features permanent stands, a press box and restrooms. The facility is directly Northwest of the Football Performance Center and McGuirk Stadium and West of Parking Lot 11.
UMass Dining
Ranked No. 1 nationally the last four years, UMass Dining is the largest college dining services operation in the country, serving 45,000 meals daily and 5.5 million meals per year.
The success of UMass Dining further cements its reputation for serving up healthy, sustainable and delicious food prepared by award-winning chefs.
Students can enjoy a plethora of menu options nearly 24/7 at four residential dining halls plus an assortment of retail locations across campus.
Many in the UMass community are on a first-name basis with Joanne Keller, pictured at right. Keller has served up breakfast at Hampshire Dining Commons for over a decade and can regularly be seen supporting Minutemen and Minutewomen teams.
In keeping with its goal to provide the best academic experience possible, the athletics department announced the Bob ('62) and Marianne ('77) Foote Academic Success Center in June 2018.
The 6,000-plus square foot learning space reserved for UMass varsity student-athletes debuted ahead of the Fall 2018 semester.
The University of Massachusetts
Nestled in the Pioneer Valley, the University of Massachusetts offers the rare combination of a world-class, "flagship campus" education in a traditional Small Town America setting with easy access to noteworthy regional, national and international metropolitan areas, including Albany, Boston, Hartford, Montreal, New York City and Providence.
The University of Massachusetts ranks No. 24 among all public higher education campuses in the United States. Up 28 spots from its #52 ranking in 2010, the commonwealth’s flagship campus is one of the most improved institutions among top-tier public universities in America.
UMass offers 114 bachelor's degree programs, 77 master’s and 48 doctoral programs across nine schools and colleges.
The approximately 23,500 undergraduate students are well-supported by a faculty of more than 1,300 full-time educators. It equates to an 18:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
With a multitude of nationally recognized schools and programs, the University of Massachusetts holds a spot on the 100 “Best College Values” list compiled by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine for the 10th consecutive year.
The University of Massachusetts features the No. 1 ranked public business school in the Northeast, the Isenberg School of Management.
UMass is home to a diverse student-body representative of 49 states and more than 70 countries. Campus life embraces the university's overarching array of backgrounds and interests through nearly 600 student life initiatives and organizations available to join.
Amherst, Mass.
Hiking, biking, museums, theater, history, food and farms. It's all in Amherst, which balances a rich multi-cultural environment with the traditional New England town aesthetic.
Downtown Amherst revolves around the needs and wants of college students. It abounds with affordable restaurants, coffee shops, store fronts, farmer's markets and live music venues. Down the street, the Amherst Town Common is the site of festivals, political rallies, art shows, yard sales and other community events.
The Town of Amherst is the perfect complement to the University of Massachusetts, fostering intellectual development with its open-mindedness to the unique backstories of all the school's 23,500 undergraduates.
Athletics at the University of Massachusetts
UMass Athletics is a comprehensive and nationally-recognized 21-sport Division I organization that positively reflects the interests and values of the institution’s students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends who support its many endeavors.
Pictured here, the UMass hockey captain hoisting the 2021 National Championship trophy surrounded by his fellow teammates. The program won its first NCAA Title after defeating St. Cloud State, 5-0, on April 10, 2021.
Attending games on campus is a staple in the student experience at the University of Massachusetts and a favorite past-time for the region's more-than-800,000 residents.
In particular, the school's dedicated student section, The Militia, enhances home-field advantage with its membership's consistent presence at varsity athletics events.
Varsity programs receive considerable support from the larger university community, including official student organizations such as the UMass Band, cheerleaders and dance team.
