University of Massachusets Athletics
Sowry Named Field Hockey Head Coach At Louisville
December 16, 2010 | Field Hockey
Dec. 16, 2010
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass will seek a new field hockey head coach after the University of Louisville announced the hiring of Justine Sowry as head coach on Thursday. She departs UMass after leading the Minutewomen to a 58-31 overall record, three Atlantic 10 Championships, and three NCAA Tournament appearances over four seasons. Joining Sowry at Louisville will be assistant coach Kelly Dostal. A national search for the next UMass head coach will begin immediately.
Sowry returns to Louisville where she served as an assistant coach from 1998-2002 under UMass alum Pam Bustin. Sowry takes over the Cardinals program after Bustin was announced as the new head coach at Duke University on Dec. 7.
Sowry returned the Minutewomen field hockey program to national prominence in her four seasons as head coach, accumulating a .652 winning percentage, including a 22-4 (.846) record in Atlantic 10 play. She was named A-10 Coach of the Year three times (2007, 2008, 2010) and NFHCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year twice (2008, 2010).
The 1991 graduate of the University of South Australia takes over a Cardinals program that went 13-7 overall in 2010, including a 5-1 record in the Big East, before falling to Connecticut in the conference semifinals. Louisville won three-straight league titles from 2006-08.
Dostal, a Hatfield, Mass. native as well as former US National Team member and National Player of the Year at Wake Forest, was an assistant under Sowry all four years in Amherst and will continue in the same role with the Cardinals.
Sowry led UMass to a 15-8 overall record in 2010, including a perfect 7-0 mark in Atlantic 10 play. The Minutewomen defeated Temple and Lock Haven to claim their 12th A-10 Championship. UMass advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd time in program history by earning an at-large bid before falling to eventual-National Champion Maryland, 4-2. UMass finished the season ranked No. 15 in the NCAA RPI.
UMass went 14-9 overall in 2009, the only season under Sowry that the Minutewomen did not claim the conference crown or advance to the NCAAs.
In 2008, Sowry led UMass to a 17-5 mark, the program's most wins since 2000. The Minutewomen went 6-0 in A-10 play, won the conference title for the second year in a row, and defeated Kent State to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
In 2007, the first-year head coach led UMass to a 14-9 overall record, including a 6-1 mark in Atlantic 10 play as UMass won the conference championship and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.
She coached 19 A-10 All-Conference selections, 17 All-Region selections, and five All-Americans in her tenure at UMass.
