BIDDEFORD, Maine – The University of New England is proud to announce the five former student-athletes who will make up the 21st class to enter the UNE Varsity Club Athletics Hall of Fame on October 16, 2026 at the Harold Alfond Forum.
 
Homecoming Weekend will be the stage for the Induction Class of 2026, which will include Meghan Gribbin '16 [women's basketball], Jake Hickey '21 [men's cross country], Lindsey (Monaco) Higginbottom '15 DPT '18 [women's soccer], Nicole Matarozzo '17 [field hockey], and Kassidy Towne '18 [women's rugby]. 
 
Hickey and Towne are slated to be the first from their respective men's cross country and women's rugby programs to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame, and Higginbottom will be just the third from women's soccer to be enshrined.
 
Gribbin (Windham, Maine) graduated in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in sport management, and was the starting point guard for the basketball squad 112 times during her career (113 appearances) as the Nor'easters stacked up a 101-18 overall record from 2012-16. Those four seasons of Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action amounted to a remarkable 69-3 ledger, bookended by perfect 18-0 campaigns, and the teams captured the league tournament title in each year. UNE then proceeded to win the program's only three NCAA Championship contests and reach the second round. Gribbin was a three-time All-CCC and All-Maine honoree, netting a first team all-conference nod as a senior, which was followed up by a D3hoops.com All-Region fourth team selection. She is the school's all-time career leader in total assists (492), assists per game (4.4), and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.22), while registering 8.3 points per contest and shooting 44 percent from the field and 77 percent at the line. In 2015-16, the senior floor general notched a 3.39 assist-to-turnover ratio that was only bettered by the national Player of the Year in Division III, and that season included a career-best 12-assist outing (against 0 turnovers) in the conference quarterfinals. In 12 CCC postseason games, Gribbin provided 9.1 points, 6.6 assists, and a 3.04 assist-to-turnover ratio. During the 2014-15 tournament final victory over Curry College (81-72), she dialed up 20 of a career-high 23 points in the second half. Across seven NCAA matches, she scored 11.7 and dished out 4.7 helpers, including an 11-point, nine-assist performance as a rookie in the 2012-13 opening round win versus Bridgewater State University (67-58).
 
Hickey (Winthrop, Maine) completed a pair of bachelor's degrees in biological sciences and health, wellness, & occupational studies following the pandemic, which canceled the 2020 cross country campaign. But in just two seasons of running for the Nor'easters -- after one year with the basketball squad -- Hickey was dominant navigating the trails. He raced to seven victories in 14 meets during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, and was among the top eight finishers on 11 different occasions. The average field size in those solo wins was 101, and the margin was 53 seconds. As a first-year competitor, he won the first three times out, and then Hickey cruised to the 2018 CCC title from a field of 104. He literally ran it back in year two, besting the pack of 110 to become the program's first two-time CCC Runner of the Year recipient (along with All-CCC, and Rookie of the Year in 2018, naturally). In addition to earning All-Maine honors twice, he also achieved U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region status in 2019 by placing 18th out of 384 at the NCAA Northeast race. That regional performance translated into the University's first individual qualifier for a national championship, where he wound up 154th out of 279.
 
UNE's only two team CCC crowns were led by Hickey in 2018 and 2019, as well. The program won a total of five times with him on the starting line.
 
Higginbottom, formerly Monaco (Holyoke, Mass.), wrapped up a bachelor's degree in applied exercise science in 2015, and then completed a Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree in 2018. She started all but seven of 76 soccer games on defense for the Nor'easters from 2011-14, as the program posted a 40-26-10 overall record and a 22-8-6 CCC mark with one regular-season title (8-0-1), along with one run to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Championship final in 2014. As a senior, Higginbottom racked up the accolades, with selections as the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year (and first team All-NE), as well as first team All-Region nods from the national (NSCAA) and local (NEWISA) coaches associations. She was also the CCC Defensive Player of the Year, and All-CCC for the second time, on top of receiving the league's Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. In the 20 contests during 2014, the center back played an integral role in UNE allowing just 5.0 shots on goal per game, which led to tallying 11 shutouts and registering 0.67 as a scoring defense. She also topped the Nor'easters that year with six assists, and chipped in with two of her three career goals. Overall, Higginbottom appeared in 72 matches and was never shown a cautionary card while holding the back line.
 
Matarozzo (Wolfeboro, N.H.) left Biddeford in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in applied exercise science. For three of her four seasons with the field hockey team (2013-16), she was one of the more consistent offensive forces in program history. Matarozzo's 52 career goals and 126 points topped the school records for one year until former teammate and 2025 HOF inductee, Vonde Saunders '18, moved to the front. As a senior, she put up 19 tallies and generated 49 points – both of which remain fourth in those season categories – and her 11 assists from 2016 stand third among UNE's ranks. Matarozzo is one of three players (and the most recent) to score at least four times in one contest, and one of her four hat tricks helped the Nor'easters demolish Western New England University (7-0) in the 2016 CCC final – the day she set the program's tournament-game record of seven points. The conference crown was the third in as many years with Matarozzo as a starter, which UNE enjoyed to the tune of a 34-2 CCC record and a trio of regular-season titles. On the heels of each CCC victory, the team chalked up wins to open NCAA Championship play and reached the second round. With the 2016 group that went 20-4 overall and 12-0 in league action, Matarozzo was a National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-America second team selection and the CCC Offensive Player of the Year. She collected three years of All-Region and All-CCC recognition, including first team status on both fronts as a junior and a senior. 
 
Towne (Fairfield, Maine) graduated with a bachelor's degree in health, wellness, & occupational studies in 2018. As UNE women's rugby transitioned from club to varsity to start the fall of 2016, the starting 8-man was a key piece of the equation. She amassed a program-best 97 points during two seasons of varsity 15s matches, leading the way by carrying 15 tries across the touch line and kicking 11 conversions. The Nor'easters went a combined 7-4 in those contests in 2016 and 2017. Towne fueled the Nor'easters to a 57-14 triumph over Bowdoin College in the 2017 National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) Tier 2 Cup Championship, notching the first four tries (20 points) of the match. She was later named to the NIRA All-America first team for her season-long performance in 2017.
 
Towne came back to the program during the 2023-25 academic years as an assistant coach.

University of New England Varsity Club Athletics Hall of Fame

Through 2025, 75 individuals and seven teams have been inducted into the UNE Athletics Hall of Fame, which was established in 2005.