Duxbury coach retiring

A familiar face will be missing from the Duxbury High sidelines this fall. Pat Shea announced her retirement as girls' soccer coach after 30 years. Shea started the girls' soccer program in 1978 and has been the only coach in team history.

"I'm going to miss it," said Shea, who started at Duxbury in 1973 as a physical education teacher. "It was my baby."

Duxbury athletic director Thom Holdgate said Shea's retirement wasn't exactly a surprise. Shea did, after all, retire from teaching, and stepped down as girls' basketball coach in 2006.

Shea led the girls' soccer program to two state championships (1983 and 1994) and 18 league titles. She retired as the girls' basketball coach with a 247-99 record, one state championship (1999), and eight league titles. She also coached golf and softball.

Holdgate said Shea is the most successful coach in school history.

"She's a class act and a female role model," he said. "She took on the [girls' soccer] job in 1978 when female sports weren't big. She brought Duxbury girls' basketball and soccer to the forefront."

"Most coaches go through life and never win a championship," said Shea. "But coaching in Duxbury has been awesome. I've been very fortunate and have had some great assistant coaches."

Shea said she will miss the players more than anything. "They kept me young and kept me hopping," said Shea. "I truly looked forward to going to practice every day."

Shea said her retirement will consist of travel and golf. Holdgate expects to have a new hire for the girls' soccer position by mid-August.

North Quincy native Michael Welch (inset) won the 87th New Hampshire Open at North Conway Country Club recently. Welch, who turned professional three years ago on the North American Pro Golf Tour, shot 63-65 to finish with a 14-under 128.

The 27-year-old Welch played the final 35 holes of the tournament without a bogey, the lone bogey coming on the opening hole of the first round. He had 15 birdies, five on par 3s, and finished five strokes ahead of Shawn Warren of Windham, Maine.

Welch is 22d on the NAPGT points list with 1390.60, making the cut in four of five NAPGT tournaments this season.

A trio of 10-year-olds - Haley Cordery of Berkley, Cailin Murphy of Raynham, and Isaiah Williams of Norton - led the Attleboro Bluefish Swim Club to an eighth-place finish with 486.50 points at the New England 12-and-Under Long Course Championships at Jenny Thompson Pool in Dover, N.H.

Murphy finished fourth overall in the 10-and-under girls with 103.50 points. She placed fourth in the 100-meter butterfly (1:25.90), fifth in the 50-meter backstroke (34.12) and 200-meter individual medley (3:03.62). She also was the lead swimmer on the first-place 200-meter freestyle relay (2:23.96) team.

Cordery was third in the 50-meter freestyle (33.84) and 15th in the 100-meter freestyle. She also swam the anchor leg of the 200-meter freestyle relay.

Williams placed ninth overall (71 points) in the 10-and-under boys with fifth-place finishes in the 50-meter freestyle (33.99), 400-meter freestyle (5:40.24) and 100-meter freestyle.

Murphy and Williams qualified for the upcoming Long Course Eastern Zone Championships in Bethesda, Md. Murphy will compete in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, and 200-meter individual medley, and Williams in the 100-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle.

After seven years as the boys' hockey coach at Mansfield High School, Mike McGrath has stepped down to become the athletic director at Randolph High School. . . . Duxbury's Kerri Connolly was eliminated by New England Country Club's Marion McInerney, 4 and 3, in the semifinals of the Women's Golf Association of Massachusetts Amateur Championship at Salem Country Club. Connolly, a sophomore at the University of Maryland, played extra holes in three of her four matches. . . . After leading Scituate High School to its first Division 3 boys' lacrosse state title this past season, Rick Bagby is leaving to coach at Marshfield High School, his alma mater. Marshfield lost to Duxbury in the Division 1 East quarterfinals. . . . Brockton's Chris Lopes , who attends The Tilton School, has verbally committed to play football at the University of Connecticut in 2009. The 5-foot-9-inch, 177-pound Lopes helped Tilton to a perfect season and its first New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Super Bowl title last fall.