University of Hartford

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 

• Two MAAC Championship Individual Champions (Maria Loza-2019, 2021)
• 2021 NCAA D1 Championship qualifier (Maria Loza-2021)
• Five MAAC All-Tournament Team honorees
• Two MAAC McLeod Trophy recipients (Maria Loza-2019, 2021)
• MAAC Rookie of the Year honoree (Maria Loza-2018)
• Four team tournament titles
• 43 WGCA All-American Scholars
• 33 MAAC All-Academic Team members

 
COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY
Pete Stankevich, a University of Hartford graduate and former standout on the men’s golf team, enters his 12^th season as head coach of the Hartford women’s golf team in 2025-26. Taking over the helm of the women’s team in 2014-15, Stankevich returned to his alma mater in 2008-09 when he was named head coach of the Hawks’ men’s golf team, a position he still holds.
 
Stankevich’s impact on the golf programs as both a student-athlete, and now a coach, has been evident on the course. One of his most notable career highlights came in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 campaigns, when he guided Maria Loza to individual titles at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship.
 
With the help of Stankevich, Loza became just the second Hawk in program history — and the first since 2010 — to win the individual title as a sophomore in 2019. Her MAAC Individual Title in 2021 was also an historic one, as it made her the first Hartford golfer in program history to repeat as the league’s individual champion. With that win, Loza secured a berth to the NCAA Regionals.
 
Loza was poised to take home what would have been her second consecutive MAAC Championship under Stankevich in 2020. But she was unable to defend her crown in her junior season, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of the remainder of the season. 
 
Graduating with the lowest career scoring average in program history — a 76.31 mark over four years — Loza also owns the top-two single-season stroke averages in program history. After shattering the previous school record of 76.39, set in 2000-01 by Kristy Finlayson, in 2018-19 with a 75.53 mark, she went on to break her own record in 2019-20 after averaging a 75.42 score on the season. 
 
Individually, in Stankevich’s first eight years, the Hawks have landed 54 top-10 performances. Two Hawks have combined for four MAAC All-Tournament Team honors, as Annamarie Mallat joins Loza after posting a top-10 finish (t-9th) at the league’s championship in 2015-16.
 
The Hawks have seen immediate and continued improvement since Stankevich took the helm in 2014-15. In fact, three of the best seasons in Hartford women’s golf lore have come under the Connecticut native. 
 
After posting what were the first- and second-best team scoring averages in program history in 2017-18 (321.00) and 2018-19 (320.23), respectively, the Hawks shattered those marks in 2019-20, which abruptly ended without a spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stankevich’s squad shaved nearly seven strokes off of the previous program-best single-season team mark, combining for a 313.67 average over the 12-round, 2019-20 campaign. 
 
As a team, Stankevich has led Hartford to top-three finishes among team leaderboards at 23 events, including four first-place performances. Hartford ended the shortened 2019-20 campaign on a high note, taking top billing at the Sacred Heart Fall Classic after edging Brown by six strokes.
 
In addition to seeing continuous growth and improved numbers on the course, the women’s golf team’s academic success has also flourished during Stankevich’s tenure. In fact, the Hawks are coming off two of their finest efforts in the classroom in the last two academic years. 
 
As a team, the women’s golf squad posted a 3.64 GPA in 2020-21, the fourth-highest mark among Hartford’s 17 Division I programs. That year, eight of the team’s nine members — 88 percent of the roster — were named to the MAAC Academic Honor Roll, which recognizes student-athletes with a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher. Seven members posted a GPA of 3.5 or better, while two Hawks paved the way with perfect 4.0 marks.
 
Stankevich has landed at least one Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar in each of his 10 seasons, as the Hawks have combined for 43 honorees since 2014-15. In 2020-21, they saw five team members (Teagan Devoe, Hannah Drew, Brooke Mackinnon, Isabelle Premkumar and Lara Yeung) receive the prestigious honor, which tied the program record for most honorees in a single season.  That was tied again in 2022-23, but the school record is 6 All-American Scholars in 2021-2022.
 
In addition to the plethora of WGCA All-American Scholars, Stankevich has landed several MAAC All-Academic Team members throughout his time as head coach. A total of 33 Hawks have received All-Academic Team accolades from the MAAC for achieving a GPA of 3.2 or better.
 
Stankevich, who enjoyed an illustrious career as a student-athlete at Hartford, made the return to his alma mater as the Hawks’ men's golf head coach for the 2008-09 season. One of five team members to represent the Hawks at the 1988 NCAA Division I Championships, he contributed to several key victories for the team, including the New England Golf Championships and the NCAA Division I District 1 Championship.
 
Stankevich also made his mark on the 1987-88 squad, which was the only Hartford team to feature PGA Tour players Jerry Kelly, Tim Petrovic, and Patrick Sheehan. During the NCAA Division I Championships in Thousand Oaks, Calif., he finished fifth in the NCAA Long Drive Championship.
 
After graduating from Hartford with a Bachelor of Science in business administration as an economics and finance major, Stankevich turned pro in 1989. During that time, he competed in tournaments while working as a golf professional at various clubs, including Bear Lakes Country Club (West Palm Beach Fla.), Wampanoag Country Club, Clinton Country Club, Glastonbury Hills Country Club and Elmridge Golf Course.
 
In 1993, Stankevich was elected to PGA Membership as a Class A member. Born in Hartford and raised in Wethersfield, Conn., he returned to the University of Hartford where he earned a Master of Arts in economics in September 1995, writing a thesis titled “The Economics of Golf Course Development.”
 
Two years after he received his Masters Degree, Stankevich was brought on as a teaching professional for Golf Quest Family Sports Center in Brookfield, Conn. Shortly thereafter, he was named the Head Golf Professional and Director of Instruction. From 1997 to 2023, he helped build Golf Quest Academy into one of the top golf academies in the Northeast, seeing it voted in the top-100 driving ranges/practice facilities in the nation almost annually by Golf Range Magazine.
 
In addition, CTGolfer.com has named Stankevich one the state’s top-three instructors on numerous occasions. He has brought that skill set and work ethic back to his alma mater.
 
Stankevich has been a member of several committees within the college golf community. Serving as a Division I All-America Committee Member from 2014 to 2019, he was chairman of the committee in 2019-20. Stankevich was also been the Northeast Region Chairman for the Division I All-America Committee since 2014.
  
Stankevich was also on the Arnold Palmer Cup Selection Committee, which selected the United States collegiate team that competed against Europe at the event. He previously served as a committee member in 2019 before continuing his involvement as committee chairman in 2020.

In 2015, Stankevich joined the Jack Nicklaus Award Committee where he served as a committee member before becoming the committee's chairman the following year. He then joined the Ben Hogan Award Committee for two years, serving as a committee member and a committee chairman in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
 
Stankevich, who competed at Wethersfield High School for the legendary coach Rod Cyr, was inducted into the Wethersfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame alongside his former coach in October 2010. In addition, Stankevich achieved PGA Life Member status in 2013, and was named a member of the PGA Quarter Century Club in 2018.
 
Stankevich currently resides in Woodbury, Conn., with his wife, Leslie, and their two sons, Durkin and Declan.