The Connecticut Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2025 inductees, and former Connecticut College head coach and director of athletics Fran Shields is one of seven honorees.

This year's class includes inductees from the players, coaches, officials and contributors categories. The ceremony will take place on Saturday January 24 at Il Gusto Italian Restaurant in Cheshire.

Shields, who will be honored as a contributor, joins a class that includes Laura Field (coach, Fairfield University), John Hackett (official, CT Lacrosse Officials Association), Holmes Harden Jr. (player, New Canaan HS, Kent School, University of North Carolina), Matt Madalon (player, Darien HS, Roanoke College), Case Matheis (player, Darien HS, Duke University), and Sean Quirk (coach, Endicott College, Boston Cannons).

Shields has spent over five decades as a coach and administrator at Connecticut College. In his 23-year coaching career, he had a 170-138 (.552) record, including a nine-year run earning ECAC postseason berths (1990-1998) that included an ECAC New England title in 1996 and runner-up finish in 1998. Shields was honored as Division III Coach of the Year in 1993. As Director of Athletics, he was a member of the USILA executive board, NCAA Lacrosse Championships Committee (chair in 2012), All-American selection and Division III rankings committees.

Locally, Shields helped to start youth programs in Groton and Old Lyme and is co-founder of the East Lyme Lacrosse Association. He continued to grow the game by providing clinics, summer camps and facilities including the Camel Jam tournament that drew over 75 teams from New England and Long Island. He is also co-sponsor of the James J. Courtney Award given annually to the most outstanding player in the boys and girls ECC Championship games. Shields has been previously inducted into the St. Lawrence University Athletics Hall of Fame (1994 and 2008), Geneva (NY) Sports Hall of Fame, and the Connecticut College Athletics Hall of Fame (2024). 

The mission of the Connecticut Lacrosse Hall of Fame is to honor men and women, past and present, who by their deeds as players, coaches, officials and/or contributors, and through the example of their lives, personify the sport of lacrosse.

Tickets for the Connecticut Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame are available through the Foundation Website (https://ctlacrosse.sportngin.com/). Tickets are $60 for adults and $30 for children under 12. For more information please contact CTLF Hall of Fame Committee Chairperson Phil Schneider (phillip-schneider@att.net) 

Connecticut Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Field grew up in Mystic and attended Taft School. She played goalie collegiately at Princeton University before starting her coaching career at Yale University. Field served as assistant coach for 8 years before moving on to Fairfield University as an assistant coach. She assumed head coaching duties in 2016 and has become the winningest coach in school history. In her time Fairfield University has won 6 MAAC Championships and made seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Field is also the co-founder of Nor'easter Lacrosse club.

Hackett played collegiately at Assumption University and began his officiating career in 1982. Over his first 25 years of officiating, he had worked at every level of the men's game including officiating championship caliber games across Connecticut and New England. Hackett served as President of the Connecticut Lacrosse Officials Association (CLOA) and has been a CIAC Boys Lacrosse committee member. A health issue forced him off the field, but he found other ways to continue his involvement with CLOA and lacrosse. Hackett has worked as CLOA assignor and chief observer to help officials improve their craft and advance within the organization. Most recently, he has served as CLOA's youth lacrosse assignor and supported other youth lacrosse officiating initiatives in the state.

Harden is the third member of his family to be inducted into the CTLF Hall of Fame (Graham Class of 2016 and Boyd Class of 2017). A native of New Canaan, he played two years at New Canaan High School before transferring to Kent School where he earned All-New England Prep School honors. Harden played collegiately at the University of North Carolina winning four straight ACC tournament championships and four straight NCAA Final Four weekends. His teams made finals appearances in 1991 and 1993 and won the National Championship in 1991. Harden earned 1st team All-ACC and honorable mention All-America honors in his senior season. He has been previously inducted into the Kent School Athletic Hall of Fame (2009) and the New Canaan Oldtimers Association for Excellence in Athletics (2017).

Madalon is considered one of the top goalies to play at Darien High School. Collegiately, he went on to play at Hofstra University before transferring to Roanoke College. At Roanoke, Madalon was Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year (2005), two-time 1st Team All-ODAC selection and a two-time Division III All-America. After graduating, he played professional lacrosse before joining the collegiate coaching ranks. After one season at Hampton-Sydney College, Madalon spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Stevens Institute of Technology, his last three as associate head coach. He was honored as IMCLA Division III Assistant Coach of the Year in 2012. Madalon left Stevens to become the offensive coordinator at Princeton University, a role he served for nearly four seasons before taking over as head coach for the final five games of the 2016 season. Named full time head coach prior to the 2017, Madalon has guided Princeton to an NCAA Championship Weekend, back-to-back Ivy League tournament championships, three straight NCAA appearances and two top three final national rankings.

Mathies was one of the most highly decorated attackmen at the high school and collegiate levels. Playing at Darien High School, he was a four-year varsity letterman, capturing the FCIAC Championship (2011) and three time CT Class M State Championships (2009, 2010, 2012). Matheis was a 3x All-American, 1st Team All-State and 1st Team All-FCIAC player amongst other numerous Player of the Year awards and post season honors. He was also ranked as the No. 1 incoming freshman in the USA by Inside Lacrosse and ESPNHS. Following Darien, Matheis continued his career as a four-year starter at Duke University winning back to back National Championships (2013, 2014) and ACC Championship Finals (2015, 2016). He was recognized as a 2x ACC Honor Roll selection, 2x ACC All-Tournament honoree and Inside Lacrosse Freshman of the Year (2013). Matheis still ranks as one of the top scorers in Darien High School and Duke University history.

Quirk was a captain and All-State goalie at Cheshire HIgh School before playing collegiately at Springfield College. As a player at Springfield (1992–95), he was a captain, two-time All-American, a member of the 1994 NCAA Division II National Championship team, 1995 NCAA National Championship appearance and the 1995 NCAA Division II Goalie of the Year. Upon graduation, Quirk served as an assistant coach at Springfield College before being named head coach at Endicott College in 1998 a position he held until 2015. In his time at Endicott, Quirk owns a remarkable 243–97 career record (.715), including an extraordinary 123–11 (.918) conference mark. He led Endicott to nine NCAA Tournament appearances, and eight conference championships being named Division III Coach of the Year (2008), four-time CCC Coach of the Year, and NEILA Coach of the Year (2014) and NEILA Man of the Year (2015). Quirk has served as the Head Coach and General Manager of the Boston Cannons from 2015 to 2023, capturing the league championship and Coach of the Year in 2020. He is widely known for building winning cultures and developing high-character student-athletes.