University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Honors 1981 Field Hockey National Champions
10/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
STORRS, Conn. (October 16, 2006) - The 1981 National Champion University of Connecticut field hockey team was honored this past weekend. The celebration began on Friday night at the football game against West Virginia and continued on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 21) at the field hockey game vs. Syracuse (1 p.m.).
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the 1981 team’s national championship triumph which saw it defeat Massachusetts 4-1 on Nov. 22, 1981 for the first women’s national championship (in any sport) in the history of NCAA athletics.
The team will be recognized at halftime during both the football and field hockey games.
The birth of a national postseason competition for women’s athletics came from the passing of Title IX in 1972 and as 277 Division I institutions sponsored women’s sports entered the NCAA in 1981.
It would be in that same year when, out of 95 participating Division I field hockey schools, the University of Connecticut would be selected to host the first-ever NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship at Memorial Stadium on November 21 & 22, 1981 in Storrs, Connecticut.
During that historical year in women’s college sports, under new national governance, seventh-year head coach Diane Wright would guide her Connecticut team to a 15-2-3 overall record and a berth in the home-hosted contest.
The underdog UConn upset top-seeded and top-ranked Massachusetts, 4-1, in the championship final to seal the inaugural national title for the Huskies.
The victory allowed them to become the first-ever NCAA Champion in the sport, the school’s first-ever NCAA national championship team (men’s or women’s) and the first-ever college women’s team to be crowned as NCAA Division I Champions.
UConn standouts Laurie Decker, Lynn Kotler, Lorie McCollum and Rose Smith were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team, while Decker and McCollum became Connecticut field hockey’s first All-America selections.
Since the 1981 National Championship season, Connecticut has qualified for 17 of the 25 national postseason tournaments held, with seven appearances in the NCAA Final Four.
A 1985 National Championship would be added to the program’s growing list of accomplishments.
