Old Town native Shaunessy Saucier is adding another chapter to her already impressive field hockey resume.
The former Old Town High field hockey standout and two-year captain at the University of Maine will begin a new job as the field hockey coach at Husson University in Bangor on Monday.
The former UMaine assistant and head coach at Bryant University in Rhode Island is replacing Kaitlin Dolloff, who stepped down after three seasons in June. Dolloff will remain an assistant women’s lacrosse coach at the school.
Saucier will be a full-time coach.
Saucier spent the past six seasons as the head coach at Nokomis High School in Newport, and she led the Warriors to a berth in the Class B North championship game this past fall where they lost, 2-0, to Belfast.
The undefeated Lions went on to win their second straight state title.
“It was a really hard decision,” said the 43-year-old Saucier. “It’s obviously bittersweet leaving Nokomis, my colleagues and the team. But I am excited for this next chapter.”
In addition to coaching field hockey at Nokomis, she was also a Spanish teacher there.
“My time at Nokomis has made me a better coach. I felt this was a good time to make the change to full-time coaching,” said Saucier, who lives in Orono. “It will be closer to home for me. I had to travel 45 minutes to get to Nokomis every day.”
The 2014 Old Town High School Sports Hall of Fame inductee was the head coach at Bryant for eight seasons before stepping down in 2016. She was an assistant coach for one year at Bryant, which was the program’s first year in Division I, before being named the head coach.
She compiled a 51-96 record at Bryant and earned three postseason berths in her eight seasons.
She moved back to Maine after purchasing the Orono-based Black Bear Elite field hockey hockey club from former UMaine assistant coach Courtney Veinotte, who left to become the associate head coach and then the head coach at Hofstra University in New York.
Veinotte returned to UMaine as an assistant coach this past March.
“I definitely love coaching and I enjoyed coaching at the club (level) when I first came back to Maine as well as high school and, obviously, collegiately,” said Saucier. “The level of competitiveness I’ve seen from the Husson team is really exciting to me.”
Husson went 9-7 a year ago, 3-1 in the Central Maine Collegiate Field Hockey Conference, which also includes Waterville’s Thomas College and the University of Maine at Farmington.
The Eagles beat Thomas 3-2 in overtime to win the conference tournament and then upended Goucher College of Towson, Maryland, 4-1, to capture the ECAC Division III title.
Nineteen of the 22 players on the roster were from Maine.
“Even when I was at Bryant, I recruited in Maine,” said Saucier. “Obviously, there is a really great level of field hockey all across the state. That’s definitely going to be a focus of mine to have the roster full of Mainers.
“Husson has a lot of great academic opportunities that will be appealing to young women who are looking for a great education. If you look at the rosters of the other teams at Husson, there is a really great Maine tradition but it is also appealing to out-of-staters as well.”
Husson Athletic Director Chris Parsons said in a press release that Saucier “has demonstrated success at every level of coaching from NCAA Division I to the Maine high school ranks and has a proven ability to develop student-athletes both competitively and academically.
“Her passion for the game, commitment to building meaningful relationships and vision for the future of our field hockey program made her the ideal choice to lead our team.”
One of the problems facing Saucier is the fact that being in a three-team conference prohibits the tournament champion from earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament since the NCAA requires leagues to have at least six institutions in a league.
And Saucier noted that getting an at-large berth would be difficult so getting into a league with at least six teams is a goal.
“But at the end of the day, the team is very competitive and very driven and determined. They’re great students, and they are here to get a good education and to compete as well,” said Saucier, daughter of Maine Field Hockey Association and Orono High School Hall of Famer Dodi Saucier. “They’re going to keep working hard and, hopefully, Chris Parsons can find a place for us.”
Shaunessy said she is looking forward to working with younger sister Liz Atkinson, who is the director of accessibility and Title IX coordinator at Husson.