Great Sports

#41
GREAT SPORTS

On June 23, 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was signed into law by Congress. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal financial aid. As a result, women’s sports entered a new, bold chapter that was marked by rapid growth and opportunities for female athletes at all levels. Here on the Hilltop, Title IX made its arrival in 1976, two years after Saint Anselm began admitting women to pursue all majors offered at the college. 

In the nearly 50 years since women’s athletics officially came to the Hilltop, the growth of the department and success of its programs has steadily risen. Today, the college sponsors 12 women’s sports with the most recent addition being women’s track and field in 2023. In 1976, the college began sponsoring women’s tennis, women’s basketball, and women’s volleyball. That same year, Saint Anselm hired its first female head coach, Donna Guimont, who would shepherd the women’s basketball program through 20 years of unprecedented success. 

At the time of her retirement, Guimont was one of the winningest coaches in Division II basketball with a winning percentage of .671. She produced 17 winning seasons while earning four bids to the NCAA tournament. For her efforts, Guimont was inducted into the NE10 Hall of Fame and the Saint Anselm College Athletics Hall of Fame. Guimont would serve in the athletics department for the next 16 years, retiring as the associate director in 2013.

If Guimont helped build the fire for women’s athletics, it was another woman who lit the match. In October 2009, Saint Anselm hired its first female athletic director, Jo-Ann Nester, Ph.D. Nester served in her role until June of 2011 and returned to Saint Anselm as interim athletic director from October 2013 through April 2014. In a 2011-2012 survey, the NCAA reported that only 19 percent of athletic directors in DII were women and Nester was part of that 19 percent. During her short time in leadership, she made a significant impact. Two of her major accomplishments that propelled all of Hawks athletics forward, but particularly impacted women’s sports, were the campaign to install the college’s first-ever artificial turf playing surface and granting athletic scholarships to all teams that qualified for them as established by the NCAA. The turf field at Grappone Stadium put the athletic programs on par with their peer institutions and immediately started to level the playing field. Similarly, the addition of athletic scholarships benefited every team that received them. While women’s sports experienced successful seasons and amazing highlights through the first three decades of their tenure, including two ECAC women’s basketball championships in the 1980s and an NE10 Championship in the 1990-1991 season, the post-scholarship era brought unprecedented and historic success. 

In 2014, the women’s lacrosse team led by Andrea Cofrin (2013-2014) became just the second women’s team to make an NCAA appearance, the first for the program. Eighteen months later, the 2016 field hockey team led by Carolyn King-Robitaille (2012-present) became the first program, men’s or women’s, to compete in an NCAA Final Four. The team would go on to qualify for six of the next seven NCAA tournaments. Two years later in 2018, the softball team led by Jill Gagnon (2014-present) would start their blazing run to national prominence, becoming the first program at the college to compete for a national championship, finishing as runner-up in the NCAA DII College World Series. 

Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team that had sustained success for multiple decades reached new heights during the 2018-2019 season led by Corey Boillard (2017-present). That year, the program claimed its first-ever NCAA East Region Championship and made their firstever NCAA Elite 8 appearance. Less than a year later, the 2019 field hockey team would keep the winning momentum going and make the college’s second-ever appearance in a National Championship game, finishing as runner-up. 

In 2019, both field hockey and softball would win their program’s first NE10 Championships. Softball would go on to win the NE10 Conference Championship again in 2021 and 2024, while field hockey would capture another one in 2023. Not to be left out of the mix, the women’s soccer program led by Joel Bancroft (2018-present) got in on the NCAA postseason action and qualified for the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2021 and again in 2022. 

During this span, women’s hockey under the leadership of Kerstin Matthews (2008-2020) would prove to be one of the most dominant women’s teams on campus, but they were not eligible for postseason play because of their NCAA status. However, this team would make history of its own. In 2017, the program became the institution’s first NCAA Division I program. In 2019, they became a founding member of the newest NCAA DI women’s hockey conference, the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance. As a member of the NEWHA, they are now eligible for conference postseason play as well as NCAA postseason play. 

A decade after women’s lacrosse marked the beginning of a broader women’s sport emergence on the Hilltop, we saw historic feats continue. This year may be the most historic yet. For the first time in the cross-country program’s history, men’s or women’s, Anyelina Martinez ’26, coached by Brian Stankiewicz ’17 (2018-present), secured the individual championship at the NE10 Championships. Less than a month later, Saint Anselm would secure its first-ever NCAA National Championship. On November 24, 2024, the field hockey team would go on a magical postseason run, culminating in a 1-0 overtime victory against defending National Champion Kutztown University. 

From the moment Title IX was signed into law, Saint Anselm women’s athletics began in earnest. In the 49 years since, Saint Anselm has become a place where women win—in athletics, the classroom, and the community. To all those many, many individuals who helped guide the establishment, development, and success of these women’s programs, thank you. To the women—well done. We stand on your shoulders. Go Hawks!