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

Sacred Heart University Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private, Roman Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1963 by Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholi ...

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Connecticut, Trumbull, Easton, Connecticut, Easton, Weston, Connecticut, W ...

in intercollegiate athletics. The Pioneers compete in the

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

and are members of the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 13 full members are located in five Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachuse ...

(MAAC; the school's primary conference),

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

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 EIWA's charter members we ...

, 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 most recent 2023–24 NCAA hockey season, the confere ...

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 A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

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 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

level and claims an FCS title in 2001. Their biggest rivalry is with the oldest public university in Connecticut,

Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticut's oldest publi ...

, 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 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 beginning when a player on the fielding team, called ...

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 Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

champion,

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

. 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 league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player and manager

Bobby Valentine Robert John Valentine (born May 13, 1950), nicknamed "Bobby V", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He also served as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University. Valentine played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (19 ...

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 Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. The conference was formed in 2023 by the merger of ...

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, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

and

Saint Anselm College Saint Anselm College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire, United States. Founded in 1889, it is named after Saint Anselm of Canterbury. As of 2024, the college's enrollment was 2,094 students. History ...

. The wrestling team competes in the

and the field hockey team competes in the

. Men's volleyball competed in the

Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States. The EIVA Tournament champion receives ...

through the 2022 season, after which the NEC began sponsoring that sport; however, SHU will return to the EIVA after the 2024 season. 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 liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1880 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by Willia ...

) and the first in the Northeast region. The program started in the fall of 2021. Sacred Heart earned their first NCAA in lacrosse, winning the MAAC tournament and getting the automatic conference bid to the

2024 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament The 2024 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship was the 53rd annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse. The semifinals and final were hosted by Drexel University a ...

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 - NIRA D1 *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

* {{navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Sacred Heart Pioneers, color=white , list = {{Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference navbox {{Atlantic Hockey America {{Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association navbox {{Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association navbox {{ECAC Equestrian navbox {{National Intercollegiate Rugby Association {{Connecticut Sports {{NewYorksports Sports clubs and teams in the New York metropolitan area Rugby union teams in Connecticut