Good news for aspiring college field hockey players from Long Island, Dowling College will launch a varsity program for the sport in the 2013-2014 school year.

Kim Hannigan, who served as the head coach at Southampton High School and hails from Long Island, has been tapped as the new head coach.

Hannigan played college field hockey at the University of Massachusetts and went to the NCAA Final Four with the Minutemen in 1987.

“I am very honored and excited about joining the Dowling College Athletic program and family,” Hannigan said in a statement. “It is a privilege to be a part of Suffolk County’s first collegiate field hockey program, with the potential to increase participation and the level of competitiveness in the sport of field hockey here on Long Island.”