Noelle Sass will enter her third season as head coach of the Rivier softball program in 2026.
After completing the 2025 season, in her second year at the helm, Sass guided the program to its best season since 2012, when the team finished 26-14. Under her leadership, Rivier hosted Pod Play for just the second time in program history and the first time since the Raiders' 2010 championship season. Wrapping up the historic season, Hannah Muchemore and Kylee Caetano earned Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) all-conference honors. In her first season, Noelle Sass guided her team to a 15-17 record, while posting a 7-7 record in the GNAC. In the opening stint, Sass guided the Raiders in their opening trip to Florida to a 5-5 record, snapping a 16-game losing streak in the Sunshine State.
Sass joined the campus community from NCAA Division II Bentley University, where she served as an assistant coach for the reigning East Region finalists since September 2021. Setting the program record for team victories twice (24 in 2022, 30 in 2023) in her tenure, the Falcons made their first NCAA postseason berth this past spring.
Under the direction of the Northeast-10 Conference’s 2023 Coach of the Year, Terry A. McDonough, Sass and the Falcons led the league in fielding percentage (0.969) while ranking second in win-loss percentage (0.649). Bentley batted .304, ranking third in the conference, and boasted the third-finest earned-run average (2.62) in the NE10.
Coaching seven All-NE10 selections since her first season in 2022, Sass planned position-specific sessions and designed individualized hitting plans for the Falcons. The native of Randolph, Mass. was also charged with a variety of administrative duties, including the program’s marketing and recruiting responsibilities.
She also gained valuable coaching experience at Fontbonne Academy from 2020-21, leading the softball program during her tenure at the private preparatory high school.
A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Newbury College with a degree in sport management in 2019, Sass was named the NECC Player of the Year in 2018 and finished her career with a .451 batting average. Rapping 32 career home runs, Sass captured All-America honors as a junior and was a Second Team All-Region honoree as a freshman.
Academically, Sass was a four-time Academic All-America selection as her team collectively posted a grade-point average of 3.695 in 2017, leading all of NCAA Division III. She was also a two-sport student-athlete at Newbury, competing on the women’s soccer team as a goalkeeper.
Sass earned a master’s degree in applied human development (coaching) from Boston University in 2020.
