The Sacred Heart Pioneers are the 32 sports teams (14 men, 18 women) representing Sacred Heart University in

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan area ...

in intercollegiate athletics. The Pioneers compete in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

and are members of the Northeast Conference (the school's primary conference),

Atlantic Hockey The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) is an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other c ...

Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) is an NCAA Division I collegiate wrestling conference. It held its first championship tournament in 1905, making it the oldest wrestling conference in the NCAA; the charter members were Colum ...

, and

New England Women's Hockey Alliance The New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) is a women's college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. As of the current 2022–23 season, the conference is made up o ...

History

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 The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

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 Constitution State Rivalry is the name of the college football rivalry between the Central Connecticut Blue Devils and the Sacred Heart Pioneers. Both schools are members of the Northeast Conference. The two schools are located 50 miles apart ...

. 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 Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...

has won four Northeast Conference tournament titles and made four NCAA tournament appearances, formerly led by

Super Bowl XVII Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1982 Miami Dolphins season, Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1982 Washington Redskins season, Washington Reds ...

champion,

Nick Giaquinto Nicholas Albert Giaquinto (born April 4, 1955) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins, where head coach Joe Gibbs nicknamed him "The Trashman" for his ab ...

. The four conference titles are tied for the most in the conference. The men's golf team won the Northeast Conference title in May 2008, 2009 and 2011. 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 Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

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

conference, and the women's hockey program competes in the newly-created

(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 The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

and

Saint Anselm College Saint Anselm College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889, it is the third-oldest Catholic college in New England. Named for Saint Anselm of Canterbury (Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to ...

. The wrestling team competes in the

and the field hockey team competes in the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and N ...

. Men's volleyball competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association through the 2022 season, after which the NEC began sponsoring that sport. 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 Presbyterian College (PC) is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina. History Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by the William Plumer Jacobs. He had served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Cl ...

) and the first in the Northeast region. The program will start in the fall of 2021.

Sports sponsored

Club sports

Currently there are twenty-eight club sports 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 *Women's Rugby *Running *Sailing *Chess *Men's Soccer *Women's Soccer *Softball *Men's Swimming *Tennis *Ultimate Frisbee *Men's Volleyball *Women's Volleyball *Weightlifting

References

External links

* {{NewYorksports Sports teams in the New York metropolitan area Rugby union teams in Connecticut