Pat Shea, girls’ soccer coach for 30 years, will be retiring from her position of head coach and will not be returning for the fall 2008 season.

Shea was the first and only coach of the girls soccer program and lead the girls to two state championships and 18 league titles, said Athletic Director Thom Holdgate.

“It was a very difficult decision. A lot of things went into it but it was just time for me to retire,” Shea said.

Shea said she retired from teaching two years ago and it was never a question of whether she would continue to coach, she was just unsure for how long. She said she had been thinking about retiring for the past six months.

Holdgate said the thought of retiring had been in the back of Shea’s head for a while. She gave up coaching girls golf this spring, and soccer was her only sport left.

“I wanted to leave the program when it was at its top, and the kids in that program are there, with both character and skill,” Shea said.

Shea said she does not have a specific win or game that stands out in her years of coaching, but said seeing her players always coming together to win will stand out in her memories forever.

“Duxbury always had big ‘X’ on their back, they’re always a target. A win over Duxbury makes their season, so seeing the kids come together it’s just great.”{sidebar id=4}

Shea said she feels very fortunate to have been able to work with such good kids and in a great town like Duxbury.

Holdgate said he has received a handful of applications for the position but said the application pool may be smaller than if this announcement was made earlier.

“If a coach already has a position with another school, they’re not going to leave their school high and dry at the beginning of August when the season starts at the end of the month,” he said.

Holdgate said he will be meeting with the Principal Andrew Stephens in the coming weeks and said a new coach will be chosen by Aug. 12.