The past 15 months have been a whirlwind for the Massachusetts athletic department and its coaching staff. Both administration and coaches alike have seen position changes, and on Tuesday another member of the coaching staff left the program.
Former Minutewomen field hockey coach Carla Tagliente was the latest to leave UMass and has accepted the head coach position at Princeton, announced its Athletic Director, Mollie Marcoux.
Tagliente spent five seasons with the Minutewomen and finished with a 64-44 (30-6 Atlantic 10) record, including three A-10 tournament championships (2012, 2013, 2015) and three regular season championships (2011, 2013, 2014). Her 64 wins are third most in program history, behind Pam Dixon (272) and Patty Shea (104). During her time at UMass, she won two A-10 coach of the year awards, as well as a pair of National Field Hockey Coaches Association coach of the year awards.
Her best season with the Minutewomen came in 2013 when they finished with a 19-5 record, and reached the Elite Eight before falling to Duke 4-1.
Tagliente joins the Tigers in place of former coach Kristen Holmes-Winn, who spent 14 seasons with the team. Princeton finished 2015 with a 11-7 (7-0 Ivy League) and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
No replacement coach has been named for UMass.
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.