In her four years playing field hockey at Ball State University, Jen Brown-Mascari never lost to a Mid-American Conference opponent.
She helped lead Ball State to a 45-0 Mid-American Conference record between 1994-1997, accumulating a 70-19-2 overall record in that span.
Her achievements on the field earned her 1996 MAC Player of the Year, three All-MAC First Team honors, MAC Freshman of the Year, several Academic All-America First Team honors and 12 MAC Player of the Week honors by the end of her career.
Since graduation, Brown-Mascari was inducted into the Ball State athletics Hall of Fame (2006) and became one of six former student-athletes inducted into the 2017 MAC Hall of Fame earlier this month.
While her teammates and coaches said it was “just going to be a matter of time,” Brown-Mascari was amazed when she heard the news.
“I was pretty shocked,” she said. “It was one of those things when the phone call was made and I was kind of like ‘Wow, you’re kidding.’ … I’m just very humbled and honored to be a part of it.”
The other five inductees in this year’s class included Dwight Gardner (Ohio, wrestling), Antonio Gates (Kent State, men’s basketball), Betsy Kuhle (Western Michigan, women’s tennis), Dan Majerle (Central Michigan, men’s basketball) and Ron Oestrike (Eastern Michigan, baseball).
MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said, “the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame is a testament to the achievements of those that have competed and served in this great conference.”
But, Brown-Mascari didn’t just compete in the MAC – she dominated it.
Chasing perfection
Brown-Mascari came into the Ball State field hockey program at a time when it was already one of the best teams in the Midwest, if not the country.
Before she joined the squad as a freshman in 1994, the Cardinals had successfully won 10 out of the 11 previous MAC Championships, which included six tournament championships and the team’s first-ever NCAA Tournament Appearance in 1992.
From the moment she stepped into the program there was a certain expectation of excellence to uphold and she ran with it.
While starting each of the 91 games during her collegiate career, Brown-Mascari’s 80 goals scored and 193 career points set both school and conference records.
Specific memories from her career are vague, but there’s one thing that she, along with everyone she meets remembers most – the flawless conference record.
To this day people ask her, “Well how on earth did you accomplish that?”
“We went into every game like it wasn’t even an option to lost,” she said. “We were confident and we kind of just took that attitude that we were not going to let a MAC team beat us.”
She remembers times where the Cardinals “almost lost a few,” coming close to losing, but pulling away with an early overtime victory.
It helped to have three other All-Americans play during her four-year span including Ashleigh Schoultz (1991-1994), Sally Northcroft (1996-1999) and Kerri Schoultz (1996-1999) as well as Ball State’s all-time winning field hockey coach Karen Fitzpatrick (285-130-11 overall) leading the charge.
Together, the group led one of the best field hockey teams in the country to four straight MAC Championships and an appearance into three NCAA Tournaments – two of which were final-eight appearances.
“We all took a lot of pride in the program. … Many of us came from hard-working families and a lot of us came from the east coast,” Brown-Mascari said. “We ended up just playing great together.”
But she wasn’t the only player who had a spotless career conference record. In fact, she wasn’t even the only Ball State player to achieve it.
As a team, Ball State didn’t lose a conference game from 1993 to 1998. For six years, the Cardinals went a perfect 57-0 in the MAC winning all but one conference championship during that period.
Career after Ball State
While Brown-Mascari has been away from field hockey for 20 years, she’s kept her competitive edge.
Since graduating from Ball State with a Bachelor of Science in physical education, she’s coached several sports, including a stint as a volunteer coach for Ball State field hockey alongside former teammate Sally Northcroft in 2015.
With three children and a full-time teaching position in Indianapolis, however, she decided to step away and give Christy Longacre control of the program.
“It was one of those things where Christi was great, she was the assistant coach,” Brown-Mascari said. “I had more going on with my life and my kids and I think Christi needed to take the program in her own direction, without us old-timers.”
Still, Brown-Mascari missed competition. But she couldn’t play field hockey living in Indiana because of the overall lack of the sports interest in the state.
That’s when a colleague reached out to her invited her to an open skate for the Indianapolis Circle City Roller Girls.
“For a while, I’ve been kind of looking to do something competitive,” Brown-Mascari said. “I went to an open skate and had a ton of fun. … I didn’t think I could do it because there’s a pretty big commitment to be a part of it. I just kept thinking about it and how fun it would be so I decided to join the league and the rest is history.”
Brown-Mascari joined in August 2016 and continues to skate under her team name of “J-Massacre.”
Since leaving Ball State, Brown-Mascari has stayed in Indiana for the most part, teaching at Culver Academy for nearly 10 years before moving Westfield with her husband Tommy and her three children. She now teaches at Guerin Catholic School with her husband.
But even 20 years after graduating from Ball State, it's hard for her to shake the memories of the Cardinals field hockey program.
“There’s honestly not a day that goes by where I don’t really think about Ball State and field hockey as some point,” Brown-Mascari said. “I couldn’t have done any of this or been a part of the MAC Hall of Fame without my teammates. Without them, I could have never done what I did.”
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