Sacred Heart Pioneers
| Sacred Heart Pioneers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Sacred Heart University |
| Nickname | Pioneers |
| NCAA | Division I (FCS) |
| Conference |
List
|
| Athletic director | Judy Ann Riccio |
| Location | Fairfield, Connecticut |
| Varsity teams | 32 |
| Football stadium | Campus Field |
| Basketball arena | William H. Pitt Center |
| Ice hockey arena | Martire Family Arena |
| Baseball stadium | Veterans Memorial Park |
| Colors | Red and white[1] |
| Mascot | Big Red the Pioneer |
| Website | sacredheartpioneers |
 | |
The Sacred Heart Pioneers are the 32 sports teams (14 men, 18 women) representing Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut in intercollegiate athletics. The Pioneers compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC; the school's primary conference), plus several other conferences for select sports, among them Atlantic Hockey America, Conference USA, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, and the New England Women's Hockey Alliance.
History
[edit]Nearly 800 students participate in the university's 31 athletic teams (17 female teams and 14 male teams) along with more than 500 students who participate in 23 club sports.
The football team plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level and claims an FCS title in 2001. Their biggest rivalry is with the oldest public university in Connecticut, Central Connecticut State University, in what has been dubbed the Constitution State Rivalry.
The men's basketball team won the Division II national title in 1986.
The women's basketball team won the Northeast Conference regular season title five times and the conference tournament three times and earned three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
The baseball team has won four Northeast Conference tournament titles and made four NCAA tournament appearances, formerly led by Super Bowl XVII champion, Nick Giaquinto. The four conference titles are tied for the most in the conference.
The men's golf team won the Northeast Conference title in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2022.
The men's fencing team won the Northeast Conference title five years in a row (2010–14) and was ranked #9 in 2011.
On February 21, 2013, the Sacred Heart University athletics department hired longtime Major League Baseball player and manager Bobby Valentine as the athletic director.
On June 8, 2021, the Sacred Heart University athletics department named Judy Ann Riccio as its interim athletic director, replacing Bobby Valentine who took a leave of absence.
The men's ice hockey program competes in the Atlantic Hockey America conference, and the women's hockey program competes in the newly created New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) and won the conference's initial tournament title in the 2017-18 season, beating out institutions such as the College of the Holy Cross and Saint Anselm College.
The men's wrestling team competes in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and the field hockey team competes in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Men's volleyball competes in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, in which it has been a member since 1993 except for the first two seasons of NEC men's volleyball in 2023 and 2024.[a][2]
On September 21, 2020, Sacred Heart announced the addition of a women's wrestling program, the second for a Division I institution (the first being Presbyterian College) and the first in the Northeast region. The program started in the fall of 2021.
Sacred Heart earned its first NCAA men's lacrosse tournament bid in 2024, winning the MAAC tournament and getting the automatic conference bid to that year's NCAA tournament.
After leaving the NEC in 2024, Sacred Heart bowling spent the 2024–25 season as an independent before becoming a single-sport member of Conference USA.[3]
Most recently, SHU announced on March 18, 2026 that it would add acrobatics and tumbling, which had been elevated from the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program to full championship status that January, as its next varsity sport. The first season of competition is planned for 2027–28.[4]
Classification
[edit]| Years | Classification | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 to present | NCAA Division I | 26 |
| 1965–66 to 1998–99 | NCAA Division II | 34 |
Conference affiliation
[edit]| Years | Conference | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 to present | Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference | 1 |
| 1999–2000 to 2023–24 | Northeast Conference | 25 |
| 1981–82 to 1998–99 | New England Collegiate Conference | 18 |
| 1965–66 to 1980–81 | Division II Independent | 16 |
Sports sponsored
[edit]
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| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Acrobatics & tumbling (2027–28) |
| Basketball | Basketball |
| Cross country | Bowling |
| Fencing | Cross country |
| Football | Equestrian |
| Ice hockey | Fencing |
| Lacrosse | Field hockey |
| Soccer | Golf |
| Tennis | Ice hockey |
| Track & field† | Lacrosse |
| Volleyball | Rowing |
| Wrestling | Rugby |
| Soccer | |
| Softball | |
| Swimming & diving | |
| Tennis | |
| Track & field1 | |
| Volleyball | |
| Wrestling | |
| 1 – includes both indoor and outdoor | |
Club sports
[edit]Currently, 28 club sports are active on campus. The active clubs are:
- Baseball
- Men's basketball
- Women's basketball
- Bowling
- Dance team
- Field hockey
- Figure skating
- Gymnastics
- Golf
- Esports
- Men's football
- Men's ice hockey
- Men's lacrosse
- Women's lacrosse
- Men's rugby[5]
- Running
- Sailing
- Chess
- Men's soccer
- Women's soccer
- Softball
- Men's swimming
- Tennis
- Ultimate
- Men's volleyball
- Women's volleyball
- Weightlifting
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Because NCAA men's volleyball is a spring sport, the NEC officially started sponsoring the sport in the 2022–23 academic year.
References
[edit]- ^ SHU Pioneers Official Logo Art. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Sacred Heart returning to EIVA family in 2025" (Press release). Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ "CUSA Adds Nebraska, Sacred Heart and Wright State as Affiliate Members for Bowling" (Press release). Conference USA. August 4, 2025. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
- ^ "SHU Adds Acrobatics and Tumbling to Division I Offerings" (Press release). Sacred Heart Pioneers. March 18, 2026. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
- ^ *Women's rugby - NIRA D1
External links
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