A model of consistency, Kim (Cloutier) Villa started scoring
field hockey goals upon her arrival at WPI in 1986 and didn’t
stop for the next four seasons.
Cloutier began her scoring barrage as a freshman. She netted 22
goals during her rookie campaign. Her sophomore season saw the
Engineers enter a new era of field hockey. WPI began play in the
ultra-competitive NEW-8 conference and immediately proved to be a
force to be reckoned with. Using 15 tallies by Cloutier, the
Crimson and Gray took home a share of the regular season title
and claimed the top seed in the 1987 NEW-8 postseason
tournament.
During her junior season, she registered a career-best 26 goals
as she garnered all-conference distinction. The honors didn’t
stop there: she was also selected a first-team, all-regional Field
Hockey Coaches Association all-star. As a team, WPI compiled an
incredible 19-1 record (second most wins in program history), and
shared the NEW-8 regular season title before defeating Wellesley to
win the league’s postseason crown.
“Kim was an excellent role model for the younger
players,” says former teammate and Hall of Famer Sue Tarallo.
“I remember her excellent work ethic, giving 110% whether it
be a practice or game. Her penalty stroke was a definite
goal.”
The scoring and the winning continued during her senior season
of 1989. Cloutier found the back of the cage 21 times to go along
with seven assists. She earned repeat selections as a NEW-8 and
regional Field Hockey Coaches Association all-star and for the
third consecutive year was named to the Field Hockey Coaches
Association national all-scholar team. WPI won the NEW-8 with an
undefeated record and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. In the
NCAAs, the Engineers blanked Southern Maine 4-0 before a
last-second 2-1 loss in the regional final versus ortland State.
Cloutier and her teammates finished 1989 with a 17-2-1
mark.
Kim left her mark not only on the WPI record books but on the
annals of Division III field hockey. Third all-time in goals scored
in school history, she ranks 21st all-time in Division III. In
three years of NEW-8 play, Cloutier and the Engineers were 15-2 in
the regular season with three titles (one outright) and one
tournament championship.
While at WPI, Cloutier also played softball for three years.
Active around campus, she was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Skull, and
Pi Tau Sigma, the national honorary mechanical engineering society.
She went on to receive her master’s degree in physical
therapy from UMass Lowell in 2000. She currently lives in Scituate,
Mass., with her husband, Louis, and their three children.
