As UMass Lowell celebrates the 50th anniversary of the merger between Lowell Technological Institute and Lowell State College, the university continues to reflect not only on its origins, but on the programs, and the people, that helped define its identity. Few teams capture that evolution more vividly than the field hockey program, which rose from humble beginnings in 1975 to a national powerhouse with a deep alumni network and a reputation for grit, unity and resilience.

When Elaine Burke Keegan ’79 stepped onto campus as a first-year student in the fall of 1975, the newly created University of Lowell was still finding its footing. North Campus remained largely male-dominated, South Campus carried its own traditions, and the adjustment to a unified university was still underway. 

“It was big. A lot of buildings, a lot of people,” Keegan remembered. “But it wasn’t long before it felt very family-like.”

For Keegan, who played field hockey in high school, the launch of a new program that she could be part of at the collegiate level felt like a welcome surprise. However, many women on campus had never played before and others did not even know field hockey was being offered. So Keegan, who would go onto become a four-year captain, and a few other early adopters took matters into their own hands. 

“There weren’t a lot of people signing up, so we basically had to go around recruiting people to really field a team – in the dorms, in the classrooms – anywhere we could find someone willing to try,” Keegan laughed. “We just wanted a team.”

From the first days through the first several decades, the team played on a grass field behind the outfield fence of the university’s current softball diamond. Rocks, bumps and weeds were part of the landscape. And yet, for the women who played, those imperfections became part of the program’s charm and character. 

“There was nothing pretty about it,” Keegan said. “But it was ours.” 

Keegan and her teammates' perseverance in establishing the program laid the foundation for student-athletes like Miki Bryan Fitzgibbons ’93, Shannon LeBlanc ’98 and Kim Villare ’07. 

“Coming to Lowell, it was comfortable,” Fitzgibbons said. “It wasn’t as big or overwhelming as other schools, and my dad had gone to Lowell Tech. Once I met the coaches and saw the academics, it just felt like the right place.”

“It was the people,” LeBlanc said of her own decision to choose UMass Lowell as a student years before becoming head coach. “The women who showed me around were fun, outgoing and competitive. And I felt like it was a program where I could play right away. I wanted to compete and I knew I’d have the chance to earn it here. In my heart, I knew it was for me.”

“I had come to a lot of the high school clinics and leagues that they had here over the summer,” commented Villare. “It was a really easy transition for me to come from Chelmsford. It just felt like home.”

In addition to recruiting, LeBlanc also stepped up in her role as captain in other ways that were needed to really grow the program. 

“We didn't have a full time coach, they were always only part time, and when I was a player, we had three coaches in four years,” she added. “I took it upon myself to lead the team in spring activities, coaching from the sideline while playing, just because I knew it was one of those things that if we wanted to be good, we had to train and play year round.” 

So by the time Villare arrived on campus, field hockey had matured into one of the university’s most competitive programs, and LeBlanc, now in her second season as head coach, was committed to elevating it to new heights.

“I wanted to coach to provide some consistency, to provide a foundation that would at least establish a culture here,” LeBlanc said. “We had to be fit, strong, smart and have a plan. We established those core values early on and that really was the difference maker in building this culture.”

The results followed. The River Hawks improved each year, eventually emerging as one of the most formidable DII programs in the nation, despite being viewed as the “underdog state school.” A defining moment came during Villare’s sophomore season.

“We had won two conference tournaments, we had all these All-Americans, so at that point it clicked for us that we could do this.” 

That championship marked the start of a dominant era for the program.

“That 2010 class, when I recruited them their freshman year, I promised them a national championship,” admitted LeBlanc. “They played for four national championships and they won their final one.”

The success of the field hockey program was an important piece of the move to Division I status for the entire UMass Lowell Athletics Department in 2013-14.

“I remember hearing along the way that it was becoming Division I and I thought that was a big step for the university,” commented Keegan.

“Thinking about Shannon as a coach and the program she creates and the staff she’s had along with her, it’s not surprising that the athletic department picked field hockey to be one of the first teams to go DI,” added Villare.” 

And that consistency has allowed a rich and full community with five decades of alums to to flourish. UMass Lowell field hockey graduates are bonded for life and continue to show up for each other and each new generation of River Hawks. 

“To support a program, it’s what you want for every player that you have; to understand how important that is and that it goes beyond the sport itself,” Fitzgibbons said.  

“Some of my very best friends are friends from the field hockey team still to this day 50 years later,” Keegan included. 

The program’s evolution from a handful of women recruiting friends in dorm hallways to a two-time Division II national champion and ultimately to a Division I program competing in the America East Conference would not have been possible without the enduring culture of family and a commitment to giving each new generation the chance to build upon what came before. 

“Our presence is great for the current players and anybody else that shows up because they see that people are invested in this program and it’s not just once you’re done it’s all over with,” Villare said.

And while the pristine, brand new blue turf that the student-athletes play on today bears little resemblance to the bumpy grass of 1975, the program’s greatest strength has been, and always will be, the people. 

“When I look back at the yearbooks and I look at the history of the program, the fact that we have women show up every day, from 1975 to today, and hearing their stories makes this 50 year history all the more special.”