Jan. 28, 2010

UMass Lowell’s Jaci Moulton (Baldwinville, MA) suffered a nearly career-ending knee injury midway through the 2009 season, but thanks to hard work, courage and determination, the senior forward returned weeks later to help lead her team to its third consecutive NCAA title game appearance. Moulton’s story was prominently featured in this fall’s “CBS Presents: Championships of the NCAA,” which aired on Dec. 26, 2009.

The annual program is an hour-long special that profiles Division II and III teams from across the country that earned spots in the NCAA finals for their respective sports. This year’s show was the fifth year that UMass Lowell had been featured, as the River Hawks have appeared in five NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships in the last seven years, capturing the title in 2005.

The River Hawks upset tournament-host Stonehill College, after falling to the Sky Hawks twice in the regular season, in the semifinal round, moving onto the championship for the third straight year. Ultimately, UMass Lowell fell to 16-time national champion Bloomsburg, in a 3-2 heartbreaker.

Throughout the championship weekend, CBS followed two teams on and off the field through practices, locker rooms, game footage and team meetings. They then took student-athletes and coaches aside for personal interviews and line reads to be featured in the show’s introduction. Junior forward Sammy Macy (Tewksbury, MA) can also be seen at the top of the show in the student-athlete montage.

The special was hosted by Sam Ryan, formerly of NFL Today on CBS and was produced by Mark Burghart. The feature producer for the Division II field hockey segment was Julie Landa.