Karen Davidson-Townley has been elected to the Northeastern University Hall of Fame for her achievements in the sport of field hockey.
Davidson, Class of '88, was a much sought-after recruit from Georgetown High School in Georgetown, Mass. where she earned a total of 10 varsity letters in field hockey, basketball and softball. However, field hockey was her specialty and she set all the Georgetown scoring records while being named an All-Star four times, Team MVP as a junior and senior, and Boston Globe All-Scholastic as a senior.
Davidson's NU freshman season of 1983 proved that the much-heralded recruit was the real deal. She promptly rewrote the program's record book by setting the NU marks for goals (20) and points (45) in a season. In fact, in her very first appearance in a Husky uniform she set the NU single-game record by scoring four goals in a 6-0 rout of Fairfield. What makes these figures more significant was the team's challenging schedule that year. NU was determined to make a national reputation in field hockey and unlike 1982 when they played five Div. II teams, the Huskies faced several Div. I powers in '83 and still finished with an 11-11 record.
In her Davidson's sophomore year there was a coaching change as Laurie Frizzell retired and Joan Broderick was hired. She changed Davidson's position from right inside forward to right wing. The result was that her scoring slumped to nine goals and three assists for 21 points.
In Davidson's junior year of 1985, the Huskies enjoyed their finest season ever. They went from 11-11-1 in '84 to 14-3-4, including victories over Syracuse and first-ranked Connecticut and ties with perennial powers Maryland and Massachusetts. The season ended with NU's first postseason appearance when they swept Ursinus and defending champ Boston College for the ECAC title. Davidson led the team in scoring with 13 goals and eight assists for 34 points. She earned All-Boston Four and All-New England accolades.
The Huskies ended with a winning 9-8-1 record in her senior season, assuring that in Davidson's four years NU never suffered a losing season. In one of the crucial contests, as the Huskies fought to remain over .500, she enjoyed a very rare day. NU defeated Rhode Island 7-0 with Davidson scoring five goals to break her own single-game record. She again led the team in scoring with 15 goals and added three assists for 33 points. This upped her career marks to 57 goals and 19 assists for 133 points, establishing new NU benchmarks for goals and scoring.
Davidson currently lives in Woodstock, Vt., with her husband Andrew and three children: Christopher, Brian and Steven.
