Plymouth State University

DENISE RIOUX '80: One of the finest female student-athletes in PSC history, Denise Rioux was a standout on the Panther field hockey and softball teams of the late 1970s. She played softball from 1976-79, batting over .300 her last three years and leading the team in 1978 with a .428 average. She served as co-captain as a senior, and still ranks 13th on PSC's all-time list with a .356 career batting average. Rioux played sweeper for three years on the PSC field hockey team, serving as team captain as a senior in 1979 on a team that went to the EAIAW playoffs.

Rioux used her fifth year at PSC to pick up and play lacrosse in 1980, and was a starter on the Panther squad that finished 8-1 and captured the New England Division II title. Rioux has been a very successful coach at Pinkerton Academy in Derry and Nashua High School. She's coached field hockey at Pinkerton since 1984, guiding her teams to a combined 163-40-20 record with three state titles ('91, '95 and '96) and three runners-up ('88, '93, '97). She coached softball at Nashua H.S. from 1985-88, making the state finals in '86, and led Pinkerton from 1989-98, combining for a 163-117 record.