Wendy AndreattA
Over her 11 years guiding the University of Rochester field hockey team, Wendy Andreatta has taken the program to new heights.
Under her tutelage, the Yellowjackets are 157-70 and have had eleven straight 10+ win seasons. She has coached nine players to All-America honors, including 1st Team selections in Michelle Relin ('16), Tara Lamberti ('16) and Sayaka Abe ('17). She also has aided in the development of 29 players to a total of 52 All-Liberty League awards. The 2017 campaign was a banner year for Andreatta and the Yellowjackets and UR captured its first ever Liberty League title, completing a perfect run through conference play. In the regular season UR was 7-0 in the Liberty League and then defeated William Smith and then Skidmore to claim the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, UR's third straight postseason appearance. Andreatta and her staff were selected as Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year, and also were recognized by the NFHCA as North Atlantic Regional Coaching Staff of the Year. Rochester finished with a record of 18-4, the best single season winning percentage in school history. UR also held a national ranking inside the top-20 every week during the 2017 season. In both 2015 and 2016, UR reached the NCAA Division III Tournament both seasons and accumulated 18 victories in each year, matching the school record set initially in 2012. The 2015 squad reached the NCAA national quarterfinals while the 2016 Yellowjackets reached the second round. Achieving success in the classroom as well, Rochester field hockey has been named to the NFHCA All-Academic Squad in each year of the award’s existence. One of the top honors for a Rochester senior student-athlete to achieve, the Lysle “Spike” Garnish Award, has been presented to eight different field hockey team members during Andreatta’s tenure. The 2012 season saw Andreatta's team burst onto the national scene. She was named Dita/NFHCA North Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year in addition to her and the UR staff being named Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year after Rochester was 18-6 and earned the programs first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, making it all the way to the national quarterfinals, upsetting #12 Rowan and #4 Salisbury in the process. After the team's 8-0 start, Rochester broke into the national rankings for just the second time ever in the program’s 38-year history. In August 2007, Andreatta took over the program after ten years spent coaching at Division I institutions. After graduating from the University of Connecticut, Andreatta, formerly 'Brady', assisted UConn for one season before a three-year stint as a graduate assistant coach at Syracuse University. After graduating with an MA in Journalism, Andreatta spent three years as the top assistant at Hofstra University, earning an MA in English, followed by two seasons with the Lions at Columbia University as the top assistant under Olympian, Katie (Kauffman) Beach. Active in USA Field Hockey, Andreatta had been a head coach in the Futures program for fifteen years before assuming the Regional Development Manager position from 2011-2014 for Region 4: New York. In this role, Andreatta managed all of the training sites in New York for both Level II and Level I, organized the annual Regional Futures Tournament and assisted with the development of youth field hockey in the state of New York. Andreatta continues to coach within the USA Field Hockey Futures program and has coached teams at the National Futures Championships in Virginia Beach as well as the Junior Olympics. Andreatta has also served as a selector for USA Field Hockey events, both at the regional and national level, and holds a Level II coaching accreditation through USA Field Hockey. Andreatta has directed the University of Rochester field hockey camp for the past eight years and has coached at camps and clinics throughout the country. With a keen interest in developing and promoting youth field hockey opportunities in Western New York, Andreatta recently launched Finger Lakes Field Hockey – a regionally-based club program that offers year-round field hockey programs for boys and girls 6-18. Andreatta has also organized and directed the University of Rochester Summer League for the past four years, and numerous ‘Learn to Play’ clinics throughout the past five years to promote the sport to boys and girls new to the sport. Andreatta’s reach goes beyond the playing field. She also serves as a member of the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Committee, and acts as a Level One USA Field Hockey Accreditation Program Instructor. On the River Campus, Andreatta recently completed a three-year term as Corresponding Secretary for the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at the University of Rochester. Andreatta graduated magna cum laude and with honors from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor of arts degree in English and Anthropology. She won a Big East Conference Post Graduate Scholarship and the UConn Club’s Senior Scholar-Athlete Award. Additionally, she was named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America University Division At-Large Team. While coaching at Syracuse, Andreatta earned a Master of Arts degree in Journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2000. Andreatta earned a second Master of Arts in English from Hofstra University in 2003. She was named All-America as a senior at Connecticut to cap off a career where she was a Big East Rookie of the Year as a freshman and the Most Outstanding Performer at the Big East Championships as a senior. Andreatta still holds single-season and Big East Tournament scoring records. She and her husband, David, reside in Fairport, New York, with their two sons. |
Margaret McConnelL
Margaret McConnell joined the Rochester field hockey coaching staff in 2016 and will begin her third year with the Yellowjacket program this upcoming Fall.
She comes to the University after working as a Sport Performance Consultant and Exercise Behavior Coach at Ithaca College while pursuing her Masters Degree in Sport Psychology. Also, over the last year, she had spent time working at Cornell University as an Athletic Student Services Intern. McConnell was a 2014 graduate of William Smith College (B.A. Psychology & Women's Studies) where she played four years for the nationally renowned Heron field hockey program. Her Heron teams qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament three times, reaching the second round in 2011 and 2012. For her career, McConnell posted totals of 24 goals and 11 assists (59 points) in 79 career matches. As a senior in 2013, McConnell was named a 1st Team All-American by the NFHCA, and was selected Liberty League and ECAC Mid-Atlantic Defensive Player of the Year. She also a two-time All-Liberty League selection, three-time Liberty League All-Academic choice and was named to the NFHCA Academic Squad three times. McConnell also has spent time as an assistant and head coach for USA Field Hockey, coaching U14, U16 and U19 in Rochester, NY and Binghamton, NY. |