Field Hockey

The numbers tell the whole story.

Five state championships, the most of any area in Western Mass.

18 WMass titles, including 7 of 10 since Division 2 was formed in 1997.

More Division 1 college players than any other sport in Franklin County or the North Quabbin Region.

Yes, this area has been successful in high school field hockey over the past 30 years. Although it can be one of the hardest sports to understand, local players have understood the game and understood it well as shown by the success players, teams and coaches have had in high school and beyond.

The first WMASS title game was held in, fittingly, South Deerfield in 1973. The game pitted perennial favorite Frontier against Mohawk. The Redskins, which dominated the sport for years behind the tutelage of Hall of Fame coach Vi Goodnow, blanked the Warriors in the inaugural game, 2-0, to begin a record four straight Division 1 sectional championships and put the sport on the map in the area. Longmeadow came close recently, winning four in the last five years.

Frontier has won a record 10 sectional titles, including eight Division 1 crowns under Goodnow and two Division II titles under current coach and former all star Missy Phillips. Southwick is closing in on Frontier with nine titles. Locally, legendary Greenfield coach Donna Woodcock student-taught under Goodnow and it didn't take her long to build the Green Wave into a power of its own. Greenfield has currently won six sectional titles, winning the Division I crown in 1989, while the Green Wave has appeared in the championship game 10 times. Woodcock was coach for five crowns while current coach Erin Thayer won it all in her first season in 2006. Kathy Horrigan brought Athol it's only title in 1986 while Lynn Hoeppner coached Mohawk to its only win with a Division 1 title in 2001.

Frontier also has the distinction of winning the first ever state title in 1975 while repeating the feat in 1976. Horrigan joined Goodnow as a state champion coach when the Red Raiders won the 1986 championship, the first state title in school history. Three years later, Woodcock joined the exclusive group as Greenfield won the 1989 Division 1 crown. She also became the first and only local coach to win a Division 2 title as the Kelly Doton-led Wave won it all in 1999.

The only other WMASS schools to win a state title were Smith Academy (1993 & 2000) and Southwick in 1985.