Zowie Tucker is in her 10th season on the Huskies’ coaching staff and fifth as associate head coach. In addition to her day-to-day duties, Tucker works extensively with the team’s defensive unit and goalies. With Tucker’s guidance, the Northeastern defense has posted amazing numbers over the last nine seasons. Husky goalies have combined for a 120-74 record with 52 shutouts.
In 2002, Tucker’s defense posted one of the best seasons in program history, allowing only 17 goals in 23 games, good for a 0.71 goals against average (GAA), as the Huskies won the America East Championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
One of Tucker’s star goalies was Diana Nelson, who started on back-to-back America East championship teams from 2003-04. Under Tucker’s guidance, Nelson went 36-10 with a 1.08 GAA, a .779 save percentage and 17 shutouts. Nelson is fourth all-time in GAA at Northeastern. She was a two-time America East All-Tournament selection and, in 2004, she was named first-team NFHCA All-Northeast region after finishing sixth in the nation in GAA (1.00).
Under Tucker’s tutelage, Northeastern has had a long history of defensive stars. Since her arrival in 2001, Tucker has helped mentor five players that have gone on to earn conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, including Kelly Williams (2001), Fior Arrindell (2002), Leigh Shea (2003), Lauren Edelmeier (2004) and Suzanne Hazelzet (2007).
In addition to her duties with Northeastern, Tucker also is an administrator and coach for USA Field Hockey at the Elite Performance and Training Center for New England. She has worked at the Futures level and with the USA Junior National team, coaching at the under-19 and under-21 Junior National camp from 2006-08. Most recently, she served as an assistant coach of the under-21 team that won gold at the 2008 Junior Pan-Am games.
Tucker had a standout career as a goalie at Massachusetts, earning All-Atlantic 10 honors three times. As a senior, Tucker was a second-team All-American, leading UMass to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season. In her final campaign, Tucker had a 19-4 record, 11 shutouts and a stingy 0.66 goals against average. For her career, Tucker posted a 59-30 record with a 1.29 goals against average and 24 shutouts. After graduating in 2000 with a degree in Sport Management, she was a volunteer assistant coach with the Mount Holyoke College field hockey team, directing the defensive unit and overseeing the goalkeepers.
As a player, Tucker competed for Wales at the senior national level, traveling the world to play in international competitions. Tucker represented Great Britain as part of the Junior Olympic program. She also won nine national league titles and was a repeat Welsh Cup champion, playing with the leading women’s club team, Swansea. Tucker played in the European Club Championship from 1993-97.
Tucker completed a master’s degree in Sports Leadership at Northeastern in May of 2009. She currently resides in Waltham.
