Cronin celebrates 20th anniversary of field hockey championship

It’s all coming back to her now.

It was 20 years ago this fall, when the Bentley University field hockey team completed a dream season, culminating with a 2001 NCAA Division II national championship.

On Saturday, the team commemorated its platinum anniversary getting honored at halftime of Bentley’s Homecoming football game against Stonehill College. For former players such as Tewksbury native Kristin Cronin LaFlamme, it was a nice touch, enhancing memories that have lasted a lifetime.

“It was great,” said Cronin, 40. “I haven’t been back in I don’t even know how long, so it was nice to see all the changes at the school and to obviously see so many teammates that came back, with kids running around everywhere. It’s just wild to think that in a blink of an eye, 20 years later, here we are.”

The team was feted at a special pregame reception inside the athletic center, as Cronin got to catch up with 15 of her teammates. Together they reminisced, while watching some footage from that championship year.

“That was a wild season,” Cronin said. “You think you’d remember things, but after watching the videos, I didn’t remember how dominant we really were. Those first few games were shutouts.”

It was also a time of bittersweet reflection. The season opened under a cloud of uncertainty, following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks that gripped the nation. The ripple effects from that day were felt on the team’s talented roster.

“That was around the time of 9/11,” Cronin said. “That happened relatively early that season, and one of our teammates, Martina DeSimone, lost her brother in the World Trade Center. She was my roommate. That was such a vivid memory early on. We had games that were cancelled trying to recover from all that, before picking things back up and having a great season. It was very tough.”

Under the leadership of then-coach Kelly McGowan and senior co-captains Allyson Bunce and Alicia Cabrera, the Falcons rose to the pinnacle of the Division II field hockey ranks. Cronin was one of six juniors on the squad, which was also comprised of eight sophomores and eight freshmen.

“We only had two seniors, but they were two of the best players that ever came through the program,” said Cronin. “We were so lucky to have that leadership.”

An NCAA contender the past two seasons, the Falcons were even more focused in 2001, dropping just one game.

Following a nail-biter against St. Michael’s in the semifinals that saw Cabrera score the game’s only goal, Bentley found itself in the national championship for the third consecutive year. This one was even more special as it was played on the Falcons’ home field.

“We thought if we were ever going to win it, now is the time,” said Cronin.

Bentley was denied in its previous two attempts in Pennsylvania, but this extraordinary team rose to the occasion with a 4-2 victory over East Stroudsburg. First-half goals by junior Kristyn Bates and freshman Liz McKenna sent Bentley into halftime riding a 2-0 lead. Sophomore Lauren Galenski made it a commanding 3-0 advantage with 29 minutes to play.

Cabrera potted her team’s fourth goal with about 14 minutes remaining, as Bentley went on to earn its 22nd victory, one that it will never forget.

“That final game, it was like when the Red Sox won the World Series (in 2004),” Cronin recalled. “We had a healthy lead, but it never felt comfortable. We felt nervous the whole time, even though we had them early in that game. Until that final whistle, you’re never really sure.”

A role player, Cronin played in 16 regular season games off the bench for the Falcons, picking up one assist. Although she doesn’t remember that helper, she does recall lighting the lamp during her team’s historic postseason jaunt.

“I scored my first goal in the conference tournament,” said Cronin, a lifelong defender in high school, before switching to forward in college. “I remember being down by the net, someone crossed it and I just tapped it in. It was great.”

“Goal scoring was new to me,” she added. “It took me my junior year to break into the stat line. I was just so use to playing midfield or defense, passing and doing all the things you’re supposed to do.”

According to coach McGowan, each player played a vital role.

“We have so many kids on this team that are just great skilled players,” said McGowan, at the time. “They definitely make things happen. We’re not a team that sits back and waits for things to happen, we make things happen. All around, everyone played a great game. Everyone was on. We were ready.”

Cronin completed her senior season the following fall, guiding the Falcons back to an unprecedented fourth consecutive trip to the finals, before bowing out in the championship game.

In 2014, the 2001 team was inducted into the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame, cementing a lasting legacy.

Born and raised in Tewksbury, Cronin first picked up the field hockey stick as part of the town’s inaugural middle school program, and quickly gravitated to the sport.

“A bunch of us were like, we’ll try this,” Cronin said. “I’m so thankful for that because we knew nothing. We’ve never seen a field hockey game or held a field hockey stick. So luckily, they did that middle school program, and most of us ended up trying out in high school. We had a great high school run too, although we didn’t dominate.”

A three-sport athlete at Tewksbury High, Cronin also played basketball and track all four years, but it was her heady play in field hockey that caught the attention of Bentley’s athletic department, earning a special invite to visit the campus.

“I got to spend a day with the team,” said Cronin. “It was beautiful. I still didn’t know what I wanted to major in, either business or political science. I was all over the place, but I realized the coaches were exceptional. I liked the school, and it was far enough away from home that I thought I was really going somewhere, although it wasn’t that far.”

Today, Kristin Cronin LaFlamme is a married mother of a two-year old son. She resides in Andover, where she runs marketing for a Newbury-based software company.

“I’m still running around, only chasing a toddler,” said Cronin. “My parents still live in Tewksbury, so I’m still there quite a bit.”

Although she hung up her field hockey stick nearly 20 years ago, the memories of that run have lasted a lifetime.

“It’s easy to forget about it, you move on with your life, and life gets crazy,” she said. “But it’s such a fun fact about myself and all of us on that team. It’s easy to get lost in it, because you lived it and it was so long ago, but it’s nice to be reminded. Its special for us, and special for the school.”

And something that continues to stand the test of time.