National recognition: Amesbury's Hlebichuk honored in Sports Illustrated

By Dan Guttenplan , Sports editor
Daily News of Newburyport



Open this week's Sports Illustrated, Amesbury sports fans. One of your own is gracing the pages.

Shannon Hlebichuk, an Amesbury High alumnus and current UMass Lowell field hockey coach, received national attention yesterday when she appeared in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd. The brief bio noted her coaching achievements, which include a Division 2 national championship in 2005 and five consecutive Northeast-10 Tournament titles.

The honor comes as no surprise to those who know Hlebichuk well. After all, her field hockey upbringing points to a career as a successful coach.

Hlebichuk learned the game at Amesbury High in the early 1990s under legendary coach Gail Kelleher, who still holds the position after 38 years. Kelleher will likely eclipse the 400-win landmark early next fall with only a shade over 150 losses on her record.

Two of Hlebichuk's Amesbury squads won Cape Ann League titles before her graduation in 1994. She continued playing field hockey in college at UMass Lowell before pursuing her masters at Arizona State University.

When she accepted the UMass Lowell position six years ago, she had no coaching experience. Sure, she had played the game for eight years, but her only relevant professional experience was a position as associate athletic director at Arizona State.

Still, she believed she was qualified to coach her alma mater. The head coaching position, which had always been a part-time position at UMass Lowell, gained funding for a full-time position just before Hlebichuk applied. She knew she was the right choice after seeing three different coaches in her four years at UMass Lowell.

"All the field hockey team needed was a consistent coach," Hlebichuk said. "I already had a love for the sport. And I knew no one would love the program like I would."

The program has taken unprecedented strides in the last six years, and Hlebichuk's peers have noticed.

She recently was named Division 2 coach of the year by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association for the third time in five years. Her team roster reads like a collection of Cape Ann League and Merrimack Valley Conference all-star teams over the past four years. She coached six CAL alumni last fall, including Amesbury High grads Kayla LeSage and Katie Enaire and Newburyport grad Jill Tierney.

It's become well known throughout the Cape Ann League coaching community that UMass Lowell is a place to send players who want to get better.

"The area has been extremely successful sending players to Shannon," Kelleher said. "It's so fabulous to go to games and see what she's able to do for our players. I love to see my players go to Shannon. They leave me and their game goes up six notches with her."

The success isn't strictly a result of thorough recruiting. Hlebichuk establishes a mentor relationship with her players. Many - like Amesbury High alumnus Josslyn Mroz and Georgetown High alumnus Taylor Kloss - return to games after graduating from UMass Lowell to show their support for the program.

"College can be very cut-throat," Kelleher said. "Shannon has a rapport with her kids where she demands the best from them. They truly respect her. That's not always the case at the college level. There's often a degree of intimidation from the coach."

With a touch of the national recognition, Kelleher's coaching options would figure to expand soon. However, she doesn't foresee many opportunities at Division 1 schools; those are jobs often secured by former Division 1 athletes, she said.

"I laugh about the possibility of other job offers all the time," Hlebichuk said. "I'm very happy at UMass Lowell. It allows me to have the work-life-family balance I'm looking for. I love the players that get into UMass Lowell. They're blue-collar athletes - ones I can relate to. Lowell is what I know."

An Amesbury Honor