Megan Shea, hired in June of 2017, begins her fifth season at the helm of the field hockey program in the fall of 2021 and leads the team into its third season at the Division I level.
During the 2020 campaign, which was played in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shea boosted her number of all-conference honorees to 17 in just four seasons when Juliane Ohmen was tabbed an NEC all-league second team player after she led the Warriors in points. The team earned 14 NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad selections, which was the most for the team in over a decade. Shea's program was also given a major honor by the Merrimack athletic department after the season concluded when the team was given the Merrimack Athletics Community Service Award for the team's work throughout the community.
In 2019, the Warriors claimed their first Division I victories in back-to-back outings when they knocked off Maine (2-1) and Bryant (2-1, 2OT) in late-September and early-October. Katharina Ohmen completed her illustrious career in the cage, as she set the program record in saves in a season with 201 and ended third in school history in career saves (520) and wins (35) and fourth in save percentage (.784) and goals against average (2.14). Juliane Ohmen and Colleen Ellis also received postseason recognition, as both players were named to the NEC all-league second team. Katharina Ohmen also earned a major honor, as she was named a 2019 Zag Field Hockey/National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Scholar of Distinction.
Leading the program to its first-ever Northeast-10 Conference Championship to conclude 2018, Shea's career record stood at an impressive 29-11 (.725) after her first two years at the helm. The Warriors won a program-record 18 games in 2018, defeating Bentley (Quarterfinals), Stonehill (Semifinals) and Saint Anselm (Finals) en route to the conference championship. The program earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, as well, the program's fifth-ever berth to the Division II Field Hockey Championship. The Warriors' 11 NE10 victories also registered as a program record while the team went on a 13-game winning streak in the regular season, the second longest in school history.
Under Shea's tutelage, three Warriors earned National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-American status in seniors Mary McNeil (First Team), Delaney Yule (First Team) and Katharina Ohmen (Second Team). All three players were all-conference first team selections, and Yule (NE10 Defensive Player of the Year) and Ohmen (NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year) each took home major awards. Eight different Warriors received all-conference recognition in 2018.
Shea enjoyed an impressive debut season, which featured an 11-win campaign and a berth in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship, marking the third consecutive trip to the postseason for the Warriors. Shea guided the Navy and Gold to six all-conference selections, the most for the program since 2013, and saw senior forward Rylie Hammond earn All-American recognition following her 43-point campaign. During the 2017 season, Shea captured her first collegiate victory as a head coach at Bentley on Sept. 8. Other prominent moments for the first-year coach including upsets of No. 10 Stonehill and a road victory at #3 Saint Anselm, which at the time was the Hawks' first defeat of the year after winning their first 10 games.
The sixth head coach in program history, Shea arrived on campus after five years of experience as a Division I assistant. Her journey to North Andover was most recently preceded by stops at Northeastern University (2015) and Columbia University (2014); while with the latter, she guided the offense and helped the Lions post a 12-win season, one of the best in program history.
Prior to Columbia, Shea coached for two years (2011-13) at her alma mater, the University of New Hampshire. While Shea was on staff at UNH, the Wildcats won two America East Championships, appeared in a pair of NCAA Tournaments and won America East Coaching Staff of the Year on both occasions.
Shea finished her playing career as one of the best to ever suit up for the Wildcats, ranking seventh all-time in goals scored (42) and sixth in points (99). During her senior season in 2009, Shea scored 23 goals and totaled 55 points, which at the time were the second highest single-season totals in UNH history. That season she was named a NFHCA All-American, NFHCA Northeast Region First Team and was selected as the America East Offensive Player of the Year.
At the national level, Shea has been a member of the coaching staff for USA Field Hockey's High Performance Developmental team. She also has served as a head coach and selector for the national futures programs in the Massachusetts and New York regions.
Shea graduated from New Hampshire in the spring of 2010 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and nutrition.
