Year of Service: 25th
Trenton State College ’82
Birth date: November 16, 1960
Hometown: Pompton Lakes, NJ
Education: BS, Health and Physical Education
Sharon Pfluger enters her 25th season as the head coach of TCNJ’s field hockey program in the fall of 2009. In addition, Pfluger will be entering her 24th season as the head coach of the Lion women’s lacrosse squad. She currently owns an overall field hockey coaching record of 433 wins against 75 losses and nine ties, with 424 of those wins happening here at the College. Her winning percentage of .846 , 433 wins, and total games coached with 517 all rank among NCAA leaders.
In her first season, the team posted a 22-3 mark and won the program’s third NCAA title, defeating Millersville University, 2-1. A year later, the Lions fell to Bloomsburg University in the NCAA Semifinals. TCNJ beat Bentley College in the consolation game to bring home the third-place trophy. In 1987, the Lions won the NJAC and once again earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
In 1988, the Lions garnered their second NCAA title under Pfluger with a 3-2 double overtime win over Bloomsburg. TCNJ finished the year with a 21-0-2 record, setting a school record for most shutouts with 18. The program earned the national runner-up title in 1989, losing 2-1 to Lock Haven University.
Her team ended the 1990 season by capturing the program’s fifth NCAA Championship with a 2-1 defeat of Bloomsburg. The Lions tallied an 18-0-1 record and Pfluger was chosen as the CFHCA Division III Coach of the Year. TCNJ successfully defended its NCAA crown in ’91, beating Bloomsburg for the second straight year with a 1-0 win and became the first Division III program to win back-to-back championships. The 1992 season saw the team make its fifth appearance in a row in the NCAA title game versus William Smith College, completing the year with an 18-2 mark. Bowing out to Mary Washington College in the NCAA Semifinals in ‘93, the team picked up the program’s second third-place trophy after defeating Trinity (CT) College in the consolation match.
After going 20 games without a loss, TCNJ dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker to SUNY Cortland in the 1994 NCAA title game to finish the season at 19-1. The Lions collected the program’s fourth undefeated season, winning the 1995 NCAA Championship with a 2-1 victory over Messiah College. In 1996, TCNJ repeated as NCAA Champions as the squad defeated Hartwick College, 2-1. Pfluger’s squad earned their 13th consecutive NJAC title in 1997, finishing the year with a 16-3 overall record.
The 1998 season saw the Lions suffer a 3-2 setback at the hands of eventual national champion, Middlebury College, in the NCAA Regional Final. In 1999, the team notched the program’s ninth NCAA crown as TCNJ tallied a 4-1 win over Amherst College. After leading her team to the 1999 NCAA title, Pfluger earned NFHCA national and regional coach of the year honors.
In 2000, the Lions lost to Springfield College in the NCAA Regional Final for a 13-4 record at the end of the year. Finishing once again with a 13-4 overall mark in 2001, TCNJ dropped an overtime decision to Messiah in the NCAA Semifinals. History repeated itself at the end of the 2002 season as the Lions fell in the semifinals once again. For the third straight campaign, Pfluger’s troops made it to the NCAA Semifinals as the Lions fell 1-0 to eventual national champion, Salisbury, in 2003. TCNJ’s hopes for another NCAA title were dashed again the following by a 3-2 score in the 2004 NCAA Regional Final, despite a late second half rally by the Lions to overcome a 2-0 halftime deficit.
In 2005, the Lions put together another solid season posting a 15-5 record marking the 21st straight year the team has won at least 13 contests. Pfluger guided TCNJ to a 4-2 mark in the tough NJAC and secured a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 25th straight year. The team opened the tournament on their home field at Lions’ Stadium and collected a 5-1 victory versus Keene State College before falling in the second round.
The Lions claimed another NJAC Championship after a perfect 6-0 campaign in the league in 2006. The Lions earned the program’s 26th consecutive NCAA Division III appearance, before capping the year with a 17-3 record and finishing the season as the regional runner-up.
TCNJ once again swept its way through the NJAC portion of the schedule with a record of 6-0 and earning its 27th straight NCAA appearance. The Lions finished their successful season with a mark of 17-3 for the second straight year and came within one goal of reaching the national semifinals.
The Lions repeated that feat in 2008 with another NJAC title and advanced to the regional finals in the NCAA Tournament.
Acknowledged as one of the premier field hockey coaches in Division III, Pfluger became TCNJ’s all-time winningest coach in the sport in less than six full years at her alma mater, moving ahead of Melissa Magee, her predecessor and head coach during the early ‘80s. Her teams have earned 23 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. Pfluger notched her 350th career win with an overtime victory over Messiah on October 21, 2003. She also collected her 400th career win as TCNJ defeated Elizabethtown College on November 10, 2006 in the NCAA Tournament.
Since the inception of the NJAC in 1985, her squads have won 18 of 23 possible NJAC titles. Pfluger has been tapped as the NJAC Coach of the Year six times, with selections in 1989, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2006 in addition to being the Co-Coach of the Year in 2007. Three times, she has coached squads to consecutive national championships. First, from the fall of 1990 to the spring of 1992, Pfluger earned four titles. Then she followed that up with four more from the 1995 women’s lacrosse title to the 1996 field hockey title. Pfluger picked up four more rings as the 1999 field hockey and 2000, 2005 and 2006 women’s lacrosse teams were victorious.
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.
In the fall of 2007, she added another impressive honor as she was inducted into the United States National Lacrosse Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2007, which was the 50th class to be inducted.
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.
The team earned that honor after winning the first NCAA Division III women’s championship. Pfluger served as one of the team’s captains that compiled a perfect 20-0 record in the fall of 1981.
Over the course of her career, Pfluger has received other numerous honors. 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. During the 1991 NCAA Division I and III Women’s Lacrosse Championships, Pfluger was the recipient of the NCAA 10th Anniversary Outstanding Service Award for her accomplishments in women’s lacrosse. On November 15, 1992, Pfluger became the first woman honored by the Trenton Select Committee. She has also served on the NCAA Field Hockey Regional Ranking Committee. Pfluger 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.
Pfluger 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.
She 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 (4-8-3) in 1983 and at Montclair State College (5-11-1) in 1984, prior to her return to her alma mater. Pfluger lives with her three children – Augie, 13, Jonah, 11, and Kileigh, 7 – in Hopewell Township, NJ.
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PFLUGER’S YEAR-BY-YEAR LOG AT TCNJ
Year Overall NJAC Postseason
1985 22-3-0 8-0* NCAA National Champions
1986 24-3-0 7-1* NCAA Semifinalists
1987 18-4-0 8-0* NCAA Tourney Qualifiers
1988 21-0-2 8-0* NCAA National Champions
1989 21-1-0 8-0* NCAA National Runners-Up
1990 18-0-1 7-0-1* NCAA National Champions
1991 19-0-1 8-0* NCAA National Champions
1992 18-2-0 8-0* NCAA National Runners-Up
1993 18-1-1 8-0* NCAA Semifinalists
1994 19-1-0 8-0* NCAA National Runners-Up
1995 20-0-0 8-0* NCAA National Champions
1996 21-1-0 7-1* NCAA National Champions
1997 16-3-0 8-0* NCAA Regional Finalists
1998 14-4-0 6-2 NCAA Regional Finalists
1999 20-0-0 8-0* NCAA National Champions
2000 13-4-0 3-1 NCAA Regional Finalists
2001 13-4-0 3-1* NCAA Semifinalists
2002 13-3-0 3-1 NCAA Semifinalists
2003 17-3-0 3-2 NCAA Semifinalists
2004 14-6-0 5-1* NCAA Regional Finalists
2005 15-5-0 4-2 NCAA Second Round
2006 17-3-0 6-0* NCAA Regional Finalists
2007 17-3-0 6-0* NCAA Regional Finalists
TOTALS 417-73-9 148-12-1 7 NCAA Titles, 17 NJAC Titles
*Indicates NJAC Champions.
