Sports

Panther field hockey coach Katharine DeLorenzo honored

KATHARINE DELORENZO, SHOWN coaching her Middlebury College field hockey team in 2019, will be inducted into the national field hockey coaches’ hall of fame. Her Panther teams have won five NCAA titles. Photo by Will Costello/Middlebury College Sports Communications Office

MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury College Head Field Hockey Coach Katharine DeLorenzo has been selected as a member of the 2022 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Hall of Fame induction class.

Middlebury Director of Athletics Erin Quinn described DeLorenzo’s recognition as richly deserved.

“I am excited that Katharine is being honored with this prestigious award. While Katharine’s record speaks for itself in terms of her ability to coach field hockey, what is not apparent in the awards and championships is the impact she has had on the lives of her players,” Quinn said. “Katharine, her staff and her players have collaborated to create a team culture that is inclusive, loving, and one that competes fiercely, but with great joy. She is also an indispensable senior woman administrator and colleague in our department, as well as a dear friend and mentor to many.”

DeLorenzo said she was excited to learn about her selection.

“I am thrilled and honored to become a member of the NFHCA Hall of Fame. The NFHCA is devoted to our sport and our beloved field hockey community. I am humbled by this incredibly special recognition and want to thank the selection committee and those who made it possible via the nomination process,” DeLorenzo said.

“I am excited to represent the NFHCA in this way and remain grateful to the organization as a whole for supporting and promoting every single hockey player, coach and team here in the U.S. I have long understood how fortunate I am to be surrounded by energetic, caring and talented coaching peers. I am humbled to join those of you who are already in our hall of fame, and am especially grateful to those of you who have made such a lasting impact on me. Thank you to my Middlebury family and to my own family for giving me the love, time and space to develop as a leader of people and a coach of a great game.”

DeLorenzo took over the Panther field hockey program in 2000 after a successful stint leading Skidmore’s head field hockey team. She later became an assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator at Middlebury. As coach, she compiled a 330-62 record and won five NCAA Division III titles, including a record four straight between 2017 and 2021, and eight NESCAC crowns.

Already a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame at Goucher College, her alma mater, DeLorenzo has coached two Division III Athletes of the Year, four NFHCA National Players of the Year and dozens of All-Americans.

She has led a Panther staff that has been recognized six times as the NFHCA Division III Coaching Staff of the Year and four times as the NFHCA Division III Regional Coaching Staff of the Year. She is a two-time NFHCA New England Coach of the Year, five-time NESCAC Coach of the Year and two-time UCAA Coach of the Year for her work at Skidmore.

In November 2018, DeLorenzo and six alumnae made their first trip to India to take part in the East India Hockey Project, which empowers girls and young women in the Indian state of Jharkhand by bringing them together for hockey instruction.

DeLorenzo and the other 2022 honorees will be recognized on Jan.13 at the NFHCA Hall of Fame Reception, the culminating event at the NFHCA Annual Convention in Lake Mary, Fla.

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