Celebrating 40 Years of Women’s Soccer
Women’s soccer came to Springfield College in 1957, starting as an intramural sport. But that all changed in 1979 with the arrival of three ambitious women—Jean Fruh ’81, G’84, Sue Hendee ’82, and Sue Deady Racine ’81—who wanted to start a club. They asked Herb Zettl to be their faculty advisor and he obliged.
The following year Director of Athletics Ed Steitz needed to create three new varsity women’s sports in order to be in compliance with Title IX. Since Fruh, Hendee, and Deady had been knocking on his door, looking to start a soccer team, Steitz decided to approach Zettl about being the women’s soccer coach, which he was happy to do.
With the exception of Keith Bugbee’s one season at the helm in 1985, Zettl continued to coach the team until 1997, totaling a career record of 156-106-21, good for a .590 winning percentage. Under his direction, Zettl led women’s soccer to appearances in seven Northeast-10 Conference Championship games.
“There were no divisions in soccer then. We played anybody, anywhere: Harvard, Yale, UMass. We could outrun any team because our players were so physically fit since they all took a physical education course each semester. We were sought after and invited to big national tournaments,” Zettl said.
In 1983, a junior varsity team was added to accommodate the large number of women interested in playing soccer. Approximately 40-50 girls tried out for the team the first year.
Zettl was succeeded by Lori McLaren in 1998 and then by Martha Brousseau in 2000. Since then, the team has been coach by John Gibson.
A native of London, England, Gibson has established the Pride as one of the top programs in the country, compiling an impressive 262-115-43 record. Gibson has led the Pride to seven New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships, including five out of the last nine, to go along with eight trips to the NCAA Championship Tournament. During his tenure, Gibson has coached six All-Americans and been named the NEWMAC Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year six times, including three-consecutive years from 2010-12.
Individual successes also played a big part in the impressive history of the program. In 2013, Vicky DiNatale ’14 made Springfield College history by being the first repeat All-America selection.
In 2015, women’s soccer claimed its fourth-consecutive NEWMAC Championship, as Springfield College became the first team in conference history to emerge from the conference tournament advancing through all stages via penalty-kick shootouts. From there, the Pride has won back-to-back Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championships, making it six-consecutive seasons that Springfield College women's soccer has finished the season with a championship trophy.
Three years later, Springfield College had one of the best statistical seasons in program history, as the Pride returned to the NEWMAC Championship game for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.
After having to cancel last season due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Pride made a return trip back to the finals of the NEWMAC Championship Tournament in 2021.
On Saturday, Oct. 2, women’s soccer alumnae celebrated the 40th anniversary of women’s soccer during Homecoming Weekend. Starting off with an alumnae game in the morning, they then watched the current team take on Coast Guard at Irv Schmid Sports Complex. Later in the day, alumnae attended the opening of the Tony DiCicco ’70 Soccer Exhibit in the Springfield College Museum. Follow the Flickr page and the alumni Facebook page for images from the day.
