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12/14/2017 04:52 PMFollowing a 41-season tenure that featured 558 victories and 10 state championships, Cathy McGuirk retired as head coach of the Branford High School field hockey team on Jan. 10. McGuirk retired alongside her husband John McGuirk, with whom she had coached the team since 1977. In the McGuirk’s final season last fall, the Hornets finished with a record of 17-3-0-2, won the SCC regular-season title, reached the SCC Tournament final, and also earned an appearance in the Class M State Tournament semifinals.
“It’s been an absolutely wonderful situation in Branford, working with all the student-athletes and everyone else who’s been involved in field hockey—all the athletic directors, other coaches, and parents. It’s just been a wonderful time for us, and we’ll miss them, but it’s time. It’s been a great run,” Cathy McGuirk said. “We just really want to see other things that we like to do in the fall. We’ve traveled other times of the year, but the fall is the time to get out and do other things.”
Cathy McGuirk finished her career as Branford’s head coach with a record of 558-129-66-12, owning the most victories for any coach in the history of Connecticut high school field hockey. The Hornets won the Class M state championship 10 times during her tenure, most recently in 2005. With the McGuirks, Branford played in 14 state finals, advanced to the state semifinals 29 times, and qualified for the State Tournament for 40 consecutive seasons. The team won the Class M state title in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 (co-champs), 1990, 1991, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. Branford also reached the Class M state final in 1984 and 2011, as well as the Class L final in 1987 and 1995.
The Hornets also claimed 17 regular-season conference championships, including 10 in the SCC, winning the SCC Tournament title for the first time in 2016. Robin Axtell was an assistant coach with Branford and the McGuirks for the past 18 seasons.
Cathy McGuirk has been named the Connecticut Field Hockey Association Coach of the Year four times and was also selected as the SCC Coach of the Year in 2016. She is a member of the Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame, the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Branford Education Hall of Fame, the Branford Sports Hall of Fame, the Southern Connecticut State University Hall of Fame, and the New Agenda Sports Hall of Fame, and she was additionally chosen as the National Field Hockey Coach of the Year in 1994.