Patty Shea

Patty Shea was a goalie at the University of Massachusetts, graduating in 1984. She played at two Olympic Games (1988, 1996) and won silver medals with the USA team at the 1987 and 1995 Pan American Games. Shea also won a bronze medal at the 1995 Champions Trophy. At U Mass, Shea was named All-American in both her junior and senior years. She helped lead the Minutemen to the NCAA final in 1981 and the Final Four in 1983. In her international career she earned 87 caps, was selected to World Hockey Magazine’s All-World team in 1996, and twice was named USA Field Hockey Athlete of the Year.

Shea became a field hockey coach while she was playing. She started as an assistant at her alma mater in 1985, and then after one year, became an assistant coach at Harvard for three years. In 1989 she moved to the University of Iowa, where she was an assistant from 1989-95. In 1996 she was named head coach at U Mass, a position she held for 10 years. She later worked in marketing for the U Mass campus recreation program and White Mountain Sports.