Nov. 20, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachsuetts field hockey coach Justine Sowry was named Division I Coach of the Year by WomensFieldHockey.com on Monday. The first-year coach led the Minutewomen (14-9, 6-1 A-10) to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. In Atlantic 10 Conference play, UMass went 6-1 to claim a share of the regular season title and defeated Richmond and Saint Joseph's in the A-10 Tournament to win the conference championship. Sowry was also named Coach of the Year by the Atlantic 10 Conference.

After missing the A-10 tournament in 2006, Sowry guided UMass to improvement of eight wins in 2007. She fielded one of the top defenses in the country, ranking third in the country in shutouts per game (0.41), seventh in goals against average (1.08), and allowed only two goals in conference play. A former World Cup goalkeeper for Australia, she helped UMass' goalies achieve career-years with nine shutouts and dropping their goals allowed from 56 in 2006 to 25 in 2007.

Sowry coached three Minutewomen to first team All-Conference, two to conference All-Rookie, and four to Longstreth/NFHCA All-Region selections.

After three highly-successful seasons as an assistant coach with the U.S. National Team, Sowry was announced as UMass' head coach on Jan. 22, 2007 by Director of Athletics John McCutcheon. Prior to joining the USFHA, Sowry served as an assistant coach for the Stanford University field hockey program during the 2003 season. She spent the previous five campaigns (1998-2002) as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville, where she worked under UMass alum Pam Bustin.

The Australia-native was a member of the Australian National Hockey Team from 1991-2001. She earned a total of 128 international caps, and was a member of the country's 1996 and 2000 Olympic squads. She earned gold medals while playing on World Cup teams in 1994 and 1998.