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On October 21, The College of New Jersey field hockey team defeated
Messiah 1-0 in overtime to give Lion head coach Sharon Pfluger her 350th
career field hockey head coaching victory.
Pfluger now sports a record of 350-54-9 in her 21st season of
coaching. She accrued a 4-8-3 mark at Kean College in 1983 and a 5-11-1
record at Montclair State College in 1984, while boasting an impressive
341-35-5 mark in her 19th season at the helm of TCNJ’s field
hockey program. Through the conclusion of the 2002 campaign, Pfluger was
ranked fifth among coaches from all three NCAA divisions in win
percentage and 10th in total wins.
She is a member of the NFHCA Hall of Fame Class of 2003 which will be
inducted on January 10, 2004 at the NFHCA Awards Luncheon in Baltimore,
MD. The Class of 2003 is only the fourth group of inductees to be
honored by the NFHCA Awards & Hall of Fame Committee.
Under her guidance, the Lions have earned 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament
bids and won seven NCAA crowns (1985, ’88, ’90, ’91, ’95, ’96, and
’99). During her tenure, TCNJ has produced four unbeaten seasons,
including two perfect 20-0 campaigns in 1995 and 1999.
Since the inception of the NJAC in 1985, Pfluger has produced a 126-8-1
mark and her squads have won 15 of 18 possible NJAC titles. She has
been tapped as the NJAC Coach of the Year four times with selections in
1989, 1995, 1999 and 2001.
The TCNJ program has produced 67 NFHCA All-Americans, including 57 under
Pfluger. TCNJ has produced two four-time All-America selections with
Diane Smith ‘85 (1981-1984) and Melanie Vasofski ‘97 (1993-1996) and has
had five players recognized as either the Division III National Player
of the Year or Honda-Broderick Award nominees.
Three times, she has coached squads to consecutive national
championships. First, from the fall of 1990 to the spring of 1992,
Pfluger earned four titles. Then she followed that up with four more
from the 1995 women’s lacrosse title to the 1996 field hockey title.
Pfluger picked up two more rings as the 1999 field hockey and 2000
women’s lacrosse teams were victorious.
She received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the March of Dimes
in 1990, while the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association cited her with
the Outstanding Achievement Award in both 1991 and 1992. On November 15,
1992, Pfluger became the first woman honored by the Trenton Select
Committee. She is one of just two female coaches featured in the NCAA
Hall of Champions’ Legends of the Game display, which was opened in
March of 2000 in Indianapolis. |