Hall of Fame
Lynn Albright-Helsel of Elizabethtown, Class of 1983, was the goalie on the Lady Raiders’ national championship team in 1979 and set several goal keeping records. She made a big impact with the field hockey team as a freshman goalie in 1979. She arrived on campus from Lancaster and Hempfield High School.
Albright-Helsel registered a shutout while helping Shippensburg win the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (AIAW) for Women Div. III national championship with a 1-0 victory over Franklin & Marshall in the title game in December in Princeton, New Jersey. The team had an overall record of 16-2-3.
Albright-Helsel set the single season record for fewest goals allowed average with 0.80. She played in 15 of the team’s 21 games and gave up just 12 goals while registering 65 saves. Seven of those goals came during penalty stroke shootouts after regulation scoreless ties. Albright-Helsel set the Shippensburg team record for shutouts in a season with 10.
Shippensburg won four straight games at the national final. The Lady Raiders opened the week with a 1-0 win over Lynchburg and then followed with a 2-1 victory over Cal State-Chico in the quarterfinals. Shippensburg defeated Glassboro State 1-0 in the semi-finals before topping F&M in the title game.
The following season Albright-Helsel allowed only 21 goals in 17 games. She made 120 saves. Shippensburg finished second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament that season, dropping a 4-2 decision to Division I Lock Haven in the final. The team was upset in the first round of the AIAW tournament and ended the season with a record of 12-4-2. Albright-Helsel was named to the All-PSAC team at the end of the season.
In 1981 Albright-Helsel allowed only 12 goals in 14 games with 75 saves. Shippensburg ended the season with a 7-7-2 record, losing two matches in the PSAC tournament. Then in her senior season in 1982 she allowed 15 goals in 13 games with 83 saves. The Lady Raiders finished with a 7-6 record.
In four seasons the field hockey team had a record of 42-19-7 for a .669 winning percentage. Albright-Helsel finished her career with 60 goals allowed in 59 games for a team record average of 1.02 goals per game. In addition she set the career record for shutouts with 27. She made 343 saves.
In addition to field hockey, Albright-Helsel lettered in track one year and was softball manager for one season.
Albright-Helsel became a corporate compliance specialist with the Pennfield Corporation. She also served as the goalie coach for Donegal High School and the indoor field hockey coordinator and coach for the past four years. She helped organize the Lanco Premier Field Hockey Club and she served on Bob Derr’s Simply Field Hockey coaching staff, which is another club team.
