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The
College of New Jersey’s field hockey coach Sharon Pfluger was
recognized in conjunction with the 2007 National Field Hockey Coaches
Association National Convention in Baltimore, MD on January 5. Pfluger was
honored for having achieved her 400th career field hockey
victory this past season.
Pfluger just wrapped her 22nd season as the head coach of
TCNJ’s field hockey program in the fall of 2006. She currently owns an
overall field hockey coaching record of 400-70-9, with 391 of those wins
happening at TCNJ. Her winning percentage of .844 is fourth among coaches
from all three NCAA divisions, while her 400 wins ranks seventh. Pfluger
is also in the Top 20 in total games coached with 479. In 2006, TCNJ
captured another NJAC Championship and earned the program's 26th
consecutive NCAA Division III appearance, before capping the year with a
17-3 record and finishing the season as the regional runner-up.
Acknowledged as one of the premier field hockey coaches in Division III,
Pfluger became TCNJ’s all-time winningest coach in the sport in less than
six full years at her alma mater, moving ahead of Melissa Magee, her
predecessor and head coach during the early ‘80s. Her teams have earned 20
consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. She collected her 400th
career win as TCNJ defeated Elizabeth College on November 10, 2006.
Since the inception of the NJAC in 1985, her squads have won 17 of 21
possible NJAC titles. Pfluger has been tapped as the NJAC Coach of the
Year six times, with selections in 1989, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2006.
She is a member of the NFHCA Hall of Fame Class of 2003 which was inducted
on January 10, 2004 at the NFHCA Awards Luncheon in Baltimore, MD. In the
summer of 2006, Pfluger a member of the College’s 1981 field hockey team
was named as a Team of Distinction in TCNJ’s Athletic Alumni Hall of Fame
after winning the first NCAA Division III women’s championship. Pfluger
served as one of the team’s captains that compiled a perfect 20-0 record
in the fall of 1981.
Over the course of her career, Pfluger has received other numerous honors.
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. During the 1991 NCAA
Division I and III Women’s Lacrosse Championships, Pfluger was the
recipient of the NCAA 10th Anniversary Outstanding Service
Award for her accomplishments in women’s lacrosse. On November 15, 1992,
Pfluger became the first woman honored by the Trenton Select
Committee. She has also served on the NCAA Field Hockey Regional Ranking
Committee. Pfluger is one of just two female coaches (Pat Summitt being
the other) featured in the NCAA Hall of Champions’ Legends of the Game
display located in Indianapolis, IN.
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