On the plaque: She was a two-time NFHCA All-American and a three-time first-team All-Ivy selection. A key member of Penn's 1988 team that advanced to the NCAA Championship semifinal round at Franklin Field. She graduated tied for second on Penn's all-time lists in goals and points. She scored 12 goals in 1988, tied for third on the single-season list, and had 29 points that season which was fourth in a season. A longtime friend of the program, Penn's field hockey complex is named in honor of her lead donation.
 
Ellen (Vagelos) Masseur C'90 loved to play soccer. Growing up in Watchung, New Jersey in the late 1970s, that put her in rather select company.

"There were only a handful of girls who played the rec [soccer] league," she said, "and for the all-star teams and travel teams, I was the only girl."
 
That was fine by her, and she was used to being just as good—if not better—than most of the boys on her team. So when she arrived to Watchung Hills Regional High School as a freshman in the fall of 1982, knowing that the school didn't have a girls' soccer team, she expected to once again play with the boys.
 
Until she was, as she put it, "discouraged" from joining the soccer team, the coach telling her "I would start as a freshman, but the boys would get stronger and grow and I would fall behind."
 
So Masseur decided to find a new sport: "I went out for tennis and realized that wasn't my thing then I went out for cross-country and realized that wasn't really my thing," she said, "and I finally showed up for field hockey.
 
"I tried all of those teams in one week," she added with a laugh.
 
It's a good thing she did. Masseur took to field hockey so well, four years later she was beginning a standout career at Penn that saw her earn first-team All-Ivy honors three times, and for which she's now being inducted into the Quakers' Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
Looking back on her introduction to the sport, Masseur remembers instantly finding a fit on the turf after those brief flings with tennis and cross-country.
 
"I think it was like an oh, duh moment," she said. "Because it just fit my personality...being on a field, a team sport, that whole scoring thing, yeah. It just suited my nature."
 
Masseur said she was inspired early in her high school years by a pair of twins, Donna and Maria Vertone, who went from Watchung Hills to Ohio State to play field hockey, as well as other teammates who were recruited at the collegiate level.
 
Her own collegiate decision came down to two choices: Penn and Georgetown.
 
"When I went to visit Penn, I saw Franklin Field, and wow, there is nothing like Franklin Field," Masseur said. "The feeling of being taken seriously and playing in a real, official, beautiful stadium, that was very appealing to me. But I had some reservations about Penn because I didn't know that I would play right away."
 
Instead, she applied to Georgetown, early decision, but was deferred. By the time spring rolled around and Masseur found herself accepted to both of her favorites, her mindset had changed and she was headed to her father's alma mater to play for the Quakers.
 
As it turned out, she didn't have to wait long to make an impact. She moved into the starting lineup midway through her freshman year, against Ivy archrival Princeton on Oct. 15, 1986. The Daily Pennsylvanian article from that game, a 2-1 Penn win, provides the details:
 
The first breakthrough for the Quakers came with 13:35 remaining in the game. Freshman Ellen Vagelos, starting for the first time this season, scored on a rebound following a Penn penalty corner. It was her first goal this season.
 
"Ellen has a lot of energy on the field, she was always go-go-go. Incredibly bright, and on the field she was just 100 miles an hour," said Donna (Mulhern) Woodruff C'90 GEd'00, Masseur's teammate as well as roommate. "You got the sense with her that anything she wanted to pick up, whether it was in the classroom or athletically, that she would just give it a go and be good at it."
 
Masseur finished with 35 goals in her Penn career, a number which at the time put her tied for second on the school's all-time list and which currently sits tied for fourth. Her 79 career points, which were also tied for second when she left the school, are tied for sixth.

"I think her ability and her knack around the goal was what was different [about her]," said Woodruff, currently the Director of Athletics at Loyola (Md.) University and herself a Penn Athletics Hall of Famer (Class X). "Making sure that your stick is in the right place at the right time to either get a deflection or have someone pass it to you and tip it in or finish it, that's a skill. She's very low to the ground, quick with her hands, and really could make those scoring opportunities happen."

"I wouldn't be able to capitalize on that skill without awesome teammates, midfielders who were taking shots and constantly bombarding the goalie," Masseur agreed. "My success was absolutely a product of the team members around me, 100 percent."
 
Masseur's individual prowess was one major reason her four years there were the most successful four years the Quakers' field hockey program has ever seen: a 45-19 (.703) overall record, with two Ivy League championships and three of the program's five NCAA tournament berths: 1986, 1988 and 1989.
 
The '88 season, when Masseur was a junior, was the high point. Coming off a summer trip to Amsterdam, the Quakers went 14-1-1 during the regular season, picking up huge wins at Delaware and Maryland to propel them into the NCAA Championship, where they received a bye in the 12-team field's first round.
 
Playing its quarterfinal at Franklin Field—which was also set to host the semifinals and championship game that year—Penn beat Penn State to advance to the national semifinals for its first and still only time ever. The Quakers fell in the semis to eventual champion Old Dominion.
 
"That run-up to the Final Four, where we beat Penn State and Temple and Delaware and Maryland, that was magical," Masseur said. "I think it became pretty evident that we were a special team just throughout the season.
 
"It was just a team that worked, it worked that year and as we went on, our coaches were getting more and more excited about how we were playing. Everybody was getting more and more excited. We were beating powerhouses that in the past, Penn had no chance of beating."
 
After Penn, Masseur got her law degree at Fordham, meeting her husband Matthew along the way through a mutual friend. They stayed in New York as she worked as an attorney for several years before focusing on raising a family. Now, the couple have three daughters: Alexa (17), Diana (14) and Nicki (11).
 
When the Masseur family comes down to Penn to take in a field hockey game, they no longer do so in Franklin Field.
 
Ellen Vagelos C'90 Field officially opened in 2013 as part of the River Fields complex, giving the field hockey program a dedicated AstroTurf stadium with seating for 500 fans. The name donation came from Masseur and her parents, with a matching anonymous gift, plus support from countless field hockey alumni and family.
 
"I do love going to watch the players because I love to support the program," Masseur said, "but I appreciate how they appreciate the field, and how grateful they are. How they appreciate the importance of having their own space that is ideal for them and feeling like they have everything necessary to be a successful, winning team.
 
"There are no obstacles in their way."