Field Hockey

By Evan Mugford, The Daily News


SALISBURY — Starting this fall, the UMass Lowell field hockey team will be getting a double dose of River Rival Region expertise. It's a dose that could prove LD 50 for all teams in the Northeast-10 Conference.

Earlier this month, former Amesbury High and UMass Lowell athletic standout Josselyn Mroz was hired as an assistant coach for the River Hawks, and the tenacious defender who stymied offensive players in every level she's competed in, will be instructing her own brand of work ethic with the team's defensive units and corners.

After sharing her wisdom as an assistant coach with Bryant University (12-8) and Endicott College (16-5, ECAC Division 3 New England champs), prompting both teams to impressive regular season records, Mroz is making her way back to a school and an atmosphere that feels a little more like home. And if her old collegiate stomping grounds at the UMass Lowell campus can't do the trick, the familiar rapport of her past coach and fellow Amesbury alumnus Shannon Hlebichuk will certainly iron out the creases.

A four-year defensive starter for the River Hawks, it's safe to say that Mroz, who earned a business administration degree with a concentration in marketing and management, is absolutely clueless about one universal sporting aspect: losing.

While at UMass Lowell, Mroz was a key component for the River Hawks success, helping the team win Northeast-10 tournament titles in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The Salisbury native helped her team set school records for lowest goals-against average in a season twice — 1.12 in 2003 and 1.08 in 2004 — and helped her team compile 31 shutouts.

During her senior year, Mroz's efforts culminated into a historical landmark for the River Hawk field hockey team, as the team won the regular season Northeast-10 title, and marched onward to claim the NCAA Division 2 Championship. That 2005 team, arguably UMass Lowell's most dominant squad, went 20-3-0 and won 16 consecutive matches from September 10 to October 29.

During her tenure as a River Hawk, Mroz was named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) 2001 All-Academic Squad, and in 2005, was named as a NFHCA First Team All-American as a senior. If all goes as planned, Mroz's reintroduction into the River Hawk system will see the team push past the NCAA Final Four — a tremendous but altogether frustrating accomplishment that UMass Lowell has grasped five years running.

"I'm very excited to be back at UMass," exclaimed Mroz, who spent her fifth year at college as an assistant coach at Endicott College in Beverly and played on the UMass Lowell softball team with her last semester of eligibility. "I've remained close with the coaching staff and I really understand and love the program that Shannon's running here.

"It was an amazing experience. The teams drive and skill progressed so much over the time I was there," said Mroz. "We were at .500 (record) my freshman year, and the team just continued to improve each year after that until we eventually won the Division 2 championship over Bloomsburg University in double overtime when I was a senior."

Mroz and Hlebichuk are currently instructing the Northeast field hockey camp together, honing and reuniting the River Hawk passion that Mroz explains she never abandoned.

"It won't be hard for me at all to instill my school spirit, because truthfully, it never left," said Mroz who had to scout and game-plan against UMass while she was coaching at Bryant. "Coaching at both the Division 2 and 3 levels have certainly prepared me for what lies ahead, and coming back to UMass, a school that I love, is going to make coaching for this team that much easier."

Mroz explained that she is excited to be on the sidelines again wearing red and white, and believes that her past as a successful alumnus who has seen and done it all and has laid the foundation for what River Hawk field hockey should be, will be instrumental and invaluable to a team that is looking to snatch up another state title.

Mroz is also anxious to work with Hlebichuk and to help her lead UMass past some stiff Division 2 competition.

"When I was a freshman I wasn't as involved with the team as I was when I became a captain," said Mroz, who cites her parents, Susan and Tim, as being two vastly influential figures in her life, athletically and socially. "But I've always technically worked with her. I've been helping out with her camp for a long time, and now that we'll be on the sidelines instructing our team together, it will only feel natural."

Collected from the UMass Lowell Web site, Hlebichuk is also very pleased to have Mroz back into the River Hawk mix.

"It is terrific to have Josselyn back at UMass Lowell," stated Hlebichuk. "Her experience as an assistant coach for two different programs has prepared her well for her role in working with our defenders. She had a remarkable career during her four years at UML, and is a proven winner. She will continue to build the foundation that our previous assistant coaches, Kim Villare and Lauren Sickel, have left."