Theresa Arsenault talks to her Cheverus field hockey players during a preseason practice in Augusta. Arsenault is leaving Cheverus to become the field hockey coach at St. Joseph’s College. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
One of the state’s most successful high school coaches is headed to the college ranks, as Cheverus field hockey coach Theresa Arsenault has been hired as the new head coach at her college alma mater – St. Joseph’s College.
Arsenault returns to the program where she played from 2011-14, serving as a captain in her final three seasons. She replaces Rupert Lewis, who resigned in November after 19 seasons in which his teams compiled a record of 224-119.
Arsenault recently completed her fifth season as the field hockey coach at Cheverus, where she built a dominant program that won two of the last three Class A state championships. The Stags were 18-0 this past season and outscored their opponents 99-3. Over the last three seasons, Cheverus lost only once, to Skowhegan in the 2022 state championship game. The Stags beat Skowhegan for the state title in 2021 and 2023.
“Coaching at the college level is always something that I’ve thought I would have loved to have done,” Arsenault said. “I put it in the back of my mind because I loved where I was teaching and where I was coaching. But when St. Joe’s opened, another place that I love and something I always wanted to do, (I thought) I might as well look into it and see what it’s about.”
In addition to field hockey, Arsenault coached softball at Cheverus for the last seven seasons, and she has been an assistant girls’ basketball coach at Portland and Cheverus. Before her field hockey stint at Cheverus, she coached at Westbrook in 2018 and guided the Blue Blazes to the Class A South final.
Arsenault, a Cheverus High graduate, was inducted this year into the St. Joseph’s Athletics Hall of Fame in recognition of her excellence in three sports – field hockey, basketball and softball. Her teams had a combined record of 256-96 and qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament four times by winning Great Northeast Athletic Conference titles.
As a midfielder in field hockey, she earned First Team NFHCA All-Region honors in her senior year and was named GNAC Defensive Player of the Year. She also was chosen as GNAC Woman of the Year in 2015.
Arsenault said it was “extremely tough” to leave Cheverus.
“Ever since I put the application in (for the St. Joe’s opening), my family and I talked almost every single day about it,” she said. “I love what I do right now, I love coaching at Cheverus, I love the kids there. The school is so supportive, athletics are such a big part of it. I love everything Cheverus stands for
“But at the same time, there’s always kind of this dream to coach at the college level that I’ve had. To be able to have that opportunity at St. Joe’s, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. … There’s no better place that I’d rather do it.”
Staff writer Drew Bonifant contributed to this report.
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