The College of New Jersey Athletics

Follow TCNJ Field Hockey on Social Media:
Twitter: @TCNJFH
Instagram: @TCNJFH

Follow TCNJ Lacrosse on Social Media
Twitter: @TCNJWLax
Instagram: @tcnjwlax

Entering 40th season as head field hockey coach and 39th season as head women's lacrosse coach at TCNJ in Fall of 2025.

Trenton State College ’82     
Hometown: Pompton Lakes, NJ
Education: BS, Health and Physical Education

19 Total National Championships
672-142-9 Field Hockey Record
9 Field Hockey National Championships
603-84-1 Lacrosse Record
10 Lacrosse National Championships
1,261-221-10 Overall Record

Sharon Pfluger directs both the field hockey and women's lacrosse programs at The College and ranks among the all-time leaders nationally in wins in both programs.

She is one of just two female coaches (Pat Summitt being the other) featured in the NCAA Hall of Champions’ Legends of the Game display located in Indianapolis, IN.

She authored a chapter for a book edited by Cecile Reynaud, PhD entitled, “She Can Coach: Tools for Success from 20 Top Women Coaches,” which was published by Human Kinetics Publishers in March 2005. Pfluger’s chapter focuses on team cohesion.

Pfluger was an assistant coach at Drew University in 1982 for field hockey and in 1984 for lacrosse, and the head field hockey coach at Kean College in 1983 and at Montclair State College in 1984, prior to her return to the College.

In the Fall of 2022, Pfluger became the first coach in NCAA history to reach 1,200 career victories while coaching two different sports.

Field Hockey
Pfluger leads all active NCAA Division III coaches in both victories and winning percentage as the veteran coach has collected 672 wins with an impressive .820 overall winning percentage.

During the 2018 season, Pfluger collected her 600th career victory with a 4-2 win over FDU-Florham. She notched her 500th career win early during the 2013 season as the Lions posted a 4-0 victory over Cabrini College.

Her most recent national semifinal appearance came in 2017, when she coached TCNJ to a 17-4 overall record and the NJAC championship. 

Pfluger led the Lions to another tremendous season in 2015, coaching TCNJ to a 20-2 overall record and trip back to the national semifinal. The Lions also won the 2015 NJAC championship.

Under her guidance, the Lions have captured nine NCAA Division III Championships (1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2011 and 2014) and have boasted five undefeated seasons. Her teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 34 of her 39 years. TCNJ's most recent title came in the fall of 2014 when the Lions blanked Bowdoin College for the program's 11th national title.

Since the inception of the NJAC in 1985, her squads have won 25 NJAC titles. Pfluger has been tabbed as the NJAC Coach of the Year 11 times, with selections in 1989, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2019 in addition to being the Co-Coach of the Year in 2007. In the fall of 2011, she was honored as the 2011 National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division III Coach of the Year, an honor she repeated following the 2014 season.  

Pfluger has coached 99 All-Americans at TCNJ with four of those players being tabbed as the national player of the year. She has also had five players selected as Honda-Broderick Award Nominees as the top player in their sport, with Gina Carey being named the Most Outstanding Collegiate Field Hockey Athlete in 1992.

She is a member of the NFHCA Hall of Fame Class of 2003 which was inducted on January 10, 2004 at the NFHCA Awards Luncheon in Baltimore, MD. The Class of 2003 was only the fourth group of inductees to be honored by the NFHCA Awards & Hall of Fame Committee.

Pfluger was a member of the College’s 1981 field hockey team that was named as a Team of Distinction by the Athletic Alumni Hall of Fame in the summer of 2006.

Lacrosse
Pfluger ranks among the elite at any NCAA level as the veteran coach has compiled an impressive 603-84-1 record in 39 seasons. Her career wins are the most in NCAA history at any level and she also ranks near the top at all levels for career winning percentage.

Under her guidance, TCNJ has earned 10 NCAA Division III Championships, six NCAA Runner-Up titles, and seven third-place finishes. Her teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of her 39 seasons, remarkably making it to at least the Elite Eight round every year before falling in the round of 16 in 2023. Since lacrosse was introduced as an NJAC sport in 2009, Pfluger has led the Lions to 14 conference championships out of the 15 won in the league.

Pfluger has coached 169 All-Americans and has had 18 players recognized as a Division III National ‘Field’ Player of the Year in the last 29 years.

In November of 2007, the US Lacrosse Board of Directors acknowledged her outstanding contributions to the game of lacrosse with her selection for the 50th class of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Pfluger was named the 1987 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association (IWLCA) Division III Coach of the Year and again earned that honor in 2004. She has also been selected as a regional coach of the year in 1989, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The Lions put together one of the most impressive streaks in college sports from April 14, 1991 until May 18, 1997 when Pfluger directed the program to 102 straight victories.

Over the course of her career, there have been many additional honors in the areas of athletics and service for Pfluger. During the 1991 NCAA Division I and III Women’s Lacrosse Championships, she was the recipient of the NCAA 10th Anniversary Outstanding Service Award for her accomplishments in women’s lacrosse. Since 1989, Pfluger has served on the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee and assisted in coaching the U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Squad from 1987 to 1989. She received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the March of Dimes in 1990, while the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association cited her with the Outstanding Achievement Award in both 1991 and 1992. On November 15, 1992, Pfluger became the first woman honored by the Trenton Select Committee. In 1995, she was honored with the Bea Marwick Award for outstanding support and service to the sport of women’s lacrosse. In the summer of 1997, Pfluger joined four other women in the New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame’s charter class. In the fall of 2017, Pfluger was named to the inaugural class of the IWLCA Hall of Fame.