Jan. 7, 2011

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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern head coach Tracey Fuchs announced Friday (Jan. 7) that NU associate head coach Carla Tagliente has accepted an opportunity to lead the field hockey program at the University of Massachusetts. Tagliente becomes head coach of a Minutewomen team that in the last four seasons has won three Atlantic 10 championships and earned three berths to the NCAA Tournament.

"After working alongside Carla at Northwestern, Michigan and on the international level, I have no doubt she is prepared to succeed in her first head coaching position at a championship-caliber program like UMass," Fuchs said. "I would personally like to thank her for all of her efforts here at Northwestern in helping to redefine and rebuild the foundation of our program. We would not be in the position we are in now without Carla's passion, experience and knowledge and I'm forever grateful for what she brought to NU."

Since coming to Northwestern with Fuchs prior to the 2009 season, Tagliente was part of a coaching staff that guided the Wildcats to back-to-back winning seasons, something that had not been achieved at NU since the 1994-95 campaigns.

In 2009, the 'Cats won 12 games behind a powerful offensive attack that racked up 67 total goals on the year, 23 more than the previous season and only two shy of the all-time Northwestern record.

During their second season together in Evanston, Fuchs, Tagliente and assistant coach April Fronzoni Bertin built on that foundation and guided NU to three Big Ten wins -- including a road upset of sixth-ranked and eventual NCAA semifinalist Ohio State -- which marked the most for the Wildcat program since the conference adopted the six-game league schedule in 2000. NU's offense continued to flourish as Chelsea Armstrong scored a conference-best 24 goals and 60 points en route to Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and second-team All-American honors.

A former star for the U.S. National team as a player, Tagliente has made her mark on the international scene as a coach, leading Midwest High Performance training squads, earning her Level III accreditation and, in 2010, receiving appointment as the head coach of the U.S. U-19 program.

Prior to her arrival at Northwestern, Tagliente spent three seasons each at Iowa and Michigan, which included trips to the NCAA Tournament with both the Hawkeyes (2004) and Wolverines (2007).

At Massachusetts, Tagliente succeeds Justine Sowry, who departed Amherst after four seasons to become the head coach at Louisville.

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