'She's my hero': CVU's Pierson named Free Press coach of the year after cancer bout

For Tucker Pierson, a cancer diagnosis equaled a death sentence.

Both of Pierson’s parents died from cancer and a close friend last summer also succumbed to the disease.

When Pierson found a lump doing a self-examination last August and the ensuing tests confirmed Triple-negative Breast Cancer, the Champlain Valley Union High School field hockey and girls lacrosse coach knew only the worst.

“To me chemo has and cancer has, meant death,” Pierson said in an interview this month. “That's what I know, I just don't know people who have had cancer and come out on the other side.”

Pierson, who has coached both CVU teams since 2016, tried to push the beginning of treatment until after field hockey season, but doctors told the 48-year-old the cancer was too aggressive to delay. In mid-October, just three weeks before the Division I field hockey championship, Pierson began weekly chemotherapy infusions.

A semifinal berth pitted CVU against Bellows Falls at Middlebury College as the Redhawks claimed a 2-1 win and redeemed previous playoff losses to the powerhouse. An elated Pierson celebrated the triumph for the night as she prepared for her third week of treatment.

“We were so excited, but I was like, ‘OK, I have a 7:30 morning chemo (appointment)’ and it's just focus on that and stop enjoying this (the playoff win).

“The juxtaposition of excitement and then pure exhaustion continued through lacrosse season.”

Just days after her third treatment, CVU took to the championship against South Burlington. And a fatiguing Pierson balanced her health while coaching.

“I remember feeling throughout the whole game, I was sort of nauseous,” Pierson said. “I would go to the back of the bench and luckily all hands were on deck.”

The Redhawks roared out of the overtime intermission and wavered a South Burlington strike for a 2-1 comeback win.

After winning the field hockey championship and leading the girls lacrosse team to a runner-up finish in Division I, Pierson is the 2022-23 Free Press coach of the year. Her teams went a combined 30-5 over the two seasons.

“She always wants to praise everybody else and include everybody else who helped her along the way, but I just think at some point people need to see how amazing she is and she definitely deserves the recognition,” CVU senior Tess Everett said.

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Pierson, who expressed the importance of doing regular self-examinations, finished her chemotherapy treatments in March and following a lumpectomy surgery in the spring and a 19-day radiation cycle has been cleared of all cancer. Pierson, who was also completing naturopathic practices, will remain on immunotherapy infusions once every three weeks through December.

“She's my hero,” Rice field hockey coach Kelly McClintock said. “I look forward every year when we get to play CVU and I get really excited when we play them twice in one season, not only because I know that CVU will be a great competition for us, but because I get to see Tucker.”

Pierson’s mindset during cancer treatment

Pierson took the cancer diagnosis not as a battle like her Redhawk teams would on the playing field, but rather with the approach that she is sick. She welcomed any help.

“The idea that people fought hard (against cancer) didn't really resonate with me,” Pierson said. “Because my parents did everything they could, it's not like they didn't want to.”

Friends dropped off meals for Pierson, a parent helped drive her to lacrosse tryouts and her team and family kept the coach grounded.

“I always had a lot to think about and going to practice every day was the best thing for me,” said Pierson, who only missed one practice over the two seasons. “It was so great to have that ability to just go to practice.”

Her players saw as their leader was forced to direct from the sidelines. A change that Pierson had to accept.

“She couldn't really play, couldn't always hold a stick in her hands because of her cancer,” Everett said. “I definitely noticed that took a damper on her because as much as she loves coaching, she also loved to kind of play as she coaches.”

CVU plays an inspired game

At the end of regulation in the field hockey championship, Pierson needed another moment to step away as the Redhawks prepared for the sudden-death overtime. She returned to the team, made a quick adjustment and delivered a few words of encouragement.

“We were playing even more for her because she was being so strong and we knew it would be so amazing if we could finally do it,” Everett said of winning the title for her coach.

With 2:18 left in the first overtime Miranda Oppenheimer struck for the winning goal. The championship triumph was Pierson’s first after 14 seasons as a head coach in Vermont (151-69-5 combined record). And even the first title after forging a hall of fame high school coaching career in Oregon.

“Suddenly this season the news came down with her health and you could see how much passion her players were playing with,” McClintock said. “And it wasn't just for themselves. They were playing for Tucker and that championship game was truly magical. You could see the power and passion behind each and every play.”

Pierson began her Vermont coaching career as an assistant in South Burlington with longtime leader Anjie Soucy. The coaching tandem won a field hockey title in the fall of 2015 before Pierson departed for CVU to lead her own program.

Soucy said the championship loss was the perfect ending to an unbelievable game.

“I talked to my players when we got back to SB after that game and just said sometimes in life things happen for a reason and I just felt that was kind of a meant-to-be situation,” Soucy said.

Pierson’s impact on her athletes

Soucy’s daughter enters CVU this fall as a freshman field hockey and lacrosse player. If she makes the varsity team over her four years in Hinesburg, she will be under the tutelage of Pierson. The Wolves’ coach said the chance for her daughter to have Pierson’s guidance is a welcomed opportunity.

“She really, obviously has a full commitment to her kids and her programs,” Soucy said. “But I also think she makes it an environment where kids want to be there.”

Everett said she’s interested in coaching in the future, in part from the last seven seasons she spent with Pierson.

“She's a mom and a coach and that's inspiring to me,” Everett said. “And I look up to that because that's something I would be interested in, I've always admired everything that she does.”

Said McClintock: “She’s creating a family-like atmosphere. She’s building these girls into fierce women, who not only can take it to you on the field hockey field, but are ready for the real world and are becoming empowering women, who could change the world. I think that's the reason I love her so much.”

Essex field hockey and girls lacrosse coach Grace Smith, who was on Pierson’s staff at CVU for a season, saw the importance of creating lasting relationships with the girls that come through their programs.

“When they go off into the world and they want to come back to see you and they want to say thank you and just seeing how well she connects and fosters relationships and lets it continue well beyond the time that they are athletes for you. I'm always amazed at her ability to do that,” Smith said.

A healthy Pierson has returned to her adult field hockey leagues, which she missed dearly, and she’s ready to defend CVU’s year-defining title run as coach of the year.

“The emotional investment is real,” Pierson said of the last year. “And I mean, this whole year has been such an emotional year, up and down. But that championship game was so special and the whole field hockey season was special. And the lacrosse season.”

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Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter: @ByJacobRousseau

Free Press Coaches of the Year

2023: Tucker Pierson, CVU

2022: Mary and Jeff Stetson, Mount Abraham

2020: Kelly McClintock, Rice

2019: Marikate Kelley, Vergennes/Mount Abraham

2018: Mike Wood, Rutland

2017: Ute Otley, CVU

2016: Scott Bliss, CVU

2015: Dennis Smith, Middlebury

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: CVU's Tucker Pierson named Free Press coach of the year