SUNY New Paltz Athletics

Alma Mater: Lock Haven University '02
Season as Head Coach: 15th (including 2020)
Record at New Paltz: 179-116 (.60)
SUNYAC Tournament Appearances: 14
SUNYAC Championships: 6 (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021)
SUNYAC Coach of the Year: 5 (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018)
*Named SUNYAC Coach of the Decade (2009-2019)
Synapse Sports National Coach of the Year: 1 (2012)
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 6 (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021)

Shanna Szablinski finished her 15th season leading the Hawks to their second straight SUNYAC Final. They finished 14-6 and earned the second seed. Szablinski coached five All-SUNYAC selections including three first team players (Hannah Ackerman, Morgan Woolley, and Rachel Tama) and two second team players (Amanda Quenneville and Miranda Britton). Two Hawks were also honored as NFHCA All-Americans (Hannah Ackerman and Rachel Tama).

In 2023 the Hawks finished 14-5, being named the No. 2 team in the SUNYAC. After their semifinal victory over Geneseo, 2-1 at home they traveled to Cortland for the SUNYAC Championship game where they fell short, 2-1. 

In 2022 she led the program to its 12th-straight postseason berth and coaching the program's second ever SUNYAC Offensive Player of the Year, Natasia Plunkett. The team finished 10-7 overall. 

In 2021, Szablinski guided the program to the best season in program history, setting program records in total wins (17) and winning percentage (.850) with the team also notching their first national ranking, finishing the season at No. 14 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) final poll. The Hawks earned the top seed in the SUNYAC Tournament after going undefeated in SUNYAC play, also a first in program history, and captured their sixth SUNYAC Championship title after defeating rival Cortland, 1-0. The Hawks went on to defeat Wilson in the NCAA Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the fourth time ever. Szablinski coached five players to All-SUNYAC honors, including SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year Jessica Ascencao who became the program's first ever, First-Team All-American selection. She and her coaching staff earned SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors and NFHCA Region III Coaching Staff of the Year.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic overturned hopes of a 2020 season, Szablinski finished her 11th season in 2019 with more wins than any other coach in program history. She concluded the 2018 season with her fifth State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Coach of the Year honor after leading her team to its fifth SUNYAC title. 

Szablinski has constructed a powerhouse program during her time at New Paltz, as the Hawks won four consecutive SUNYAC titles from 2012-15, and she won SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors for three consecutive seasons from 2011-13. Furthermore, in 2012, she was named the Synapse Sports NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year, and her teams have thrice advanced past the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
A total of 40 New Paltz student-athletes have gained All-SUNYAC recognition under Szablinski’s stewardship in addition to 16 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-Region honorees and two NFHCA All-Americans.
 
In 2016, the Hawks finished 9-9 (5-1 SUNYAC) and earned the No. 2 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament, hosting a semifinal game. Following a heartbreaking loss in the 2016 semifinal game, coach Szablinski and the Hawks battled their way back to the SUNYAC championship in 2017 with an upset victory over Oneonta in the semifinals.

Szablinski continued her run of success by guiding New Paltz to its fourth straight SUNYAC championship in 2015, as the Hawks went 16-6 overall (5-1 SUNYAC). New Paltz topped Simmons by a 1-0 final in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, marking the program's third-ever NCAA Tournament win and first-ever NCAA home event in the history of the College.

In 2013, the Hawks won their first-ever NCAA Tournament contest, upsetting William Smith College on the road, 5-2, in the first round. New Paltz has had a flair for the dramatic in winning its first two SUNYAC titles, as the Hawks topped SUNY Cortland in the championship game in shootout fashion both in 2012 and 2013. New Paltz achieved its first-ever winning season in 2012—going 16-5 overall—and followed it up with a 14-9 mark in 2013.

New Paltz tasted success in 2011, earning the No. 3 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament for the second time in as many years. At the season's end, Szablinski was accorded SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors, becoming the first head coach in the program's history to earn the distinction. 2010 was a banner year for the Hawks, as they went 9-10 overall (3-3 SUNYAC) and qualified for the inaugural SUNYAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed.

In her first season as the bench boss, she turned around a team that had gone 3-13 the year before her arrival. The Hawks achieved an 8-11 record in 2009, which equaled the program-record total for single-season victories at the time. 

Prior to New Paltz, Szablinski served as the assistant coach for Lock Haven University for six years. She was responsible for assisting in all phases of the program, including game plans, scouting, academic monitoring and recruiting. During her time at Lock Haven, Vitale helped guide the program to a 106-25 record, including three North East Conference Championships. 

Szablinski is a 2002 graduate of Lock Haven, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education with a concentration in sports administration and coaching. Szablinski was a forward on the Lady Eagles’ field hockey team from 1998-2000 and spent the 1997 campaign on the field for Mansfield University. In 2000, she achieved recognition as the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Athlete of the Year and was a Honda Broderick nominee. She was a three-time All-American (1997, 1998, 2000), a three-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) First-Team selection (1997, 1998, 2000) and was named the PSAC Athlete of the Year in 2000. 

Over the span of her career at Lock Haven, Szablinski recorded a total of 39 goals, including 17 during her senior season, to rank ninth on the Lady Eagles’ all-time goals list. She was a member of the 2000 National Championship squad and two PSAC championship teams (1998, 2000). 

Prior to her return to Lock Haven, Szablinski served as an assistant coach at the College of Wooster, working with the field hockey and lacrosse teams. 

Contact Shanna Szablinski at ext. 3929 or vitales@newpaltz.edu.