Pam Stuper, a member of the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame who has been a part of four NCAA championship teams, enters her ninth year as head coach at Yale in 2013. She led the Bulldogs to an Ivy League championship in 2011 -- the school's first since 1980. The championship came as part of a remarkable run of success for the Bulldogs in recent years under Stuper, as they have gone 40-28 overall in the last four seasons (20-8 in the Ivy League). That is the second-most wins in a four-year span in school history. Yale finished the 2011 season with a school-record 69 goals, marking the sixth straight season the Bulldogs increased their goal total over the previous year.

In addition to the team accomplishments, Stuper has also coached numerous players to individual success -- including the 2011 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year (Erin Carter '12) and the 2010 Ivy League co-Rookie of the Year (Georgia Holland). Holland also earned a spot on the U.S. Under-21 Team for the 2012 Junior Pan American Games. Yale has had one All-American (third team), 14 All-Region selections (seven first team, seven second team) and 35 All-Ivy League selections (15 first team, 15 second team, five honorable mention) in her eight seasons at the helm. She was promoted to head coach in February of 2005 after eight years as an assistant at Yale.

Stuper’s teams also excel in the classroom. Yale has earned National Academic Team honors from the NFHCA in each of her seasons as head coach. She also has had multiple Academic All-Ivy League selections, an NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner and a Kiphuth Student-Athlete Distinction Award honoree.

The team has also been active in the community under Stuper’s leadership, including work on the "Get a Grip" campaign to benefit the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation in honor of goalkeeper Ona McConnell, who has the disease. The team also assists with the annual marrow donor registration drive at Yale, which is held each spring in memory of Yale women’s ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz '10 (1988-2011) and her battle with cancer. Bulldog back Lexy Adams was found to be a match for a patient in need of a life-saving transplant and donated stem cells in December 2010.

As an assistant at Yale, Stuper helped guide the Bulldogs to three ECAC Championships (1998, 2002 and 2003) in eight seasons. Prior to joining the Yale staff she was an assistant coach at James Madison from 1993-1995, helping the Dukes win the NCAA Championship in 1994.

A 1992 graduate of Old Dominion and member of the ODU Hall of Fame, Stuper was a key part of three national championship teams and was a two-time All-American for the Monarchs. She also was named GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-American in 1992.

Stuper is also involved with the game on an international level, and she currently serves as a member of the executive board for FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey, or International Hockey Federation), the international governing body for the sport of field hockey. She was elected to that position in the fall of 2010. In the fall of 2011 she was elected to the board of directors for the Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF).

Stuper’s international experience dates back to her days as a player, as she was on the U.S. National Team for nine years. She participated in three World Cups (1990, 1994 and 1998), one Pan American Games (1995) and two Champion's Trophy Tournaments (1995, 1997). She also was an alternate for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team. Stuper earned a silver medal in the 1995 Pan American Games and a bronze in the 1994 World Cup. She added to her international experience by playing for the Amsterdam Ladies First Team, which was Dutch National League Top Division runner-up in 1996-1997.

In addition to her playing experience, Stuper also has significant experience in international competition at other levels. In 2007 she served as a manager for the U.S. National Team's Netherlands tour and at the Champions Challenge in Baku, Azerbaijan. She has been an assistant coach/manager for the U.S. Under-16/Under-17 team since 2008. Stuper traveled with the U-17 team to Vancouver for the USA-Canada Series April 1-8, 2012. She also worked with the team at the Easter Tournament in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, in 2008, 2009 and 2011.

In 2010, Stuper earned a bronze with the U-17 team at the Youth Pan American Games in Montevideo, Uruguay. She has also served as manager for the National Team’s European Tour to Spain and England in 2010 and for the U-21 National Team at the Junior World Cup in Boston in 2009. In the summer of 2006 Stuper coached the U-19 U.S. team at the Can Am Games in Virginia Beach, Va.

Stuper was head coach of USA Field Hockey’s New England Junior High Performance team for 2011. She was an assistant coach for the New England Region from 2005 through 2009, and was an assistant for the North team in 2010. Two of her Yale players, Holland and Erica Borgo, were selected for the North team for the 2012 National Championships. She was an assistant coach for the North this year.

Stuper’s international experience also includes multiple trips abroad with the Yale team, including visits to Spain in 2013, Argentina in 2008, Greece (for the Olympic Games) and Italy in 2004 and the Netherlands in 2000.

Stuper served as Second Vice-President of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association from 2005-2008 and as Director of Curriculum & Development from 2009-2011. She is a member of the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship Committee and serves as the Athlete Sports Organization (ASO) Director on the USA Field Hockey Board of Directors. She currently serves as Chair of the Board, a position she was elected to in 2011.

Stuper received her master's degree in exercise science with an emphasis in sports psychology from Southern Connecticut State University in 2008. She resides with her husband, John, the Yale baseball coach, in Hamden. In addition to her USA Field Hockey and Old Dominion honors, she is also a member of the Hempfield High School Hall of Fame (Lancaster, Pa.). On May 5, 2012, she was inducted into the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Updated Mar. 18, 2013

Yale Field Hockey Head Coach Victory Leaders
through 2012

1. Pam Stuper 65
2. Carla Hesler 54
3. Ainslee Lamb 41
4. Richard Kentwell 33
5. Marisa Didio 27

Tamara Durante joined the Yale coaching staff in 2005. She works mainly with the goalkeepers and forwards, and has tutored three All-Ivy League goalkeeper selections while helping the Bulldogs increase their season goal total for six straight years at one point -- including a school-record 69 goals in 2011 en route to earning a share of the Ivy League title.

In 2011, then-sophomore Emily Cain earned second team All-Ivy League honors to become the third All-Ivy goalie Durante has worked with. Under Durante's guidance, Katie Bolling '11 developed into a second team All-Ivy selection in her first year as a starter (2008). Bolling ranked fourth in the country in save percentage (.809). The year before that, under Durante's watch, goalie Charlotte Goins '10 finished third in the NCAA in save percentage (.804) and fifth in saves per game (8.71). That earned Goins second team All-Ivy honors. 

Before joining head coach Pam Stuper's staff at Yale, Durante spent the four previous years as an assistant coach at Ohio University. Prior to her stay at Ohio, Durante worked for Field Hockey Canada from 1999-2001. Her duties included assisting the goalkeeper coach and recording and editing matches. She was the head coach for the Provincial Quebec Under-21 and Under-18 teams from 1993-98.

In addition to her work at Yale Durante also is involved with the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA). She won a gold medal as an assistant coach for the Under-21 U.S. team at the Junior Pan Ams in October of 2008. Durante has coached in the Futures Program since 2002 and served as the Great Lakes Regional Futures Director from 2003-05. She has selected for various USFHA programs, including the Under-16 national team and Futures Elite. She also was selected to coach for USA Field Hockey at the AAU Junior Olympic Games from 2006 through 2008.

A native of Lachine, Quebec, Durante is a 2000 graduate of the University of Alberta and was a five-year starter for the field hockey team there. She helped the Pandas to a silver medal in the CIAU Championship in 1997 and bronze medals in 1996 and 1999.

updated Mar. 18, 2013

Clarissa Clarke, who captained the Yale women’s lacrosse team to an Ivy League championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003, joined the Yale field hockey staff for the 2012 season.

Clarke was an assistant coach with the Yale women’s lacrosse team from 2004 through 2008. She helped the Bulldogs to an Ivy League title and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007, when the team went 13-4 overall. The team went 55-26 (.679) overall and 22-13 (.629) in the Ivy League during her tenure as an assistant.

In addition to captaining the Bulldogs to an Ivy League championship as a player in 2003, Clarke helped the Bulldogs win their first-round game vs. Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament that year. She was a second team IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-American selection, and was second team All-Ivy League. She also won the team’s Gib Holgate Award, awarded to the woman whose dedication to the ideals of Yale and the success of women's lacrosse measure up to the standards set by James G. "Gib" Holgate, a member of the Yale athletic administration from 1954 to 1985.

Clarke, who is seventh on Yale’s all-time goals list (112), was an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection as a sophomore and as a junior. She also was a two-time lacrosse all-academic selection.

Clarke has worked as a chief operating officer since 2009, first at United Atlantic Studios (2009-2012) and most recently at Access Boston Global Investors. She also worked as a principal at Skilled Leader from 2005-2009, organizing and implementing a career and professional development curriculum for Mashantucket Pequot Nation.

A native of Huntington, N.Y., Clarke attended Cold Spring Harbor. She is owner and co-director of Nor’easter Lacrosse in Connecticut, a club program that she has run since 2005.

updated Oct. 10, 2012

U.S. Olympian Melissa Gonzalez joined the Yale field hockey staff for the 2012 season. Gonzalez, a former All-American at UConn, has been with the U.S. National Team since 2010.

Prior to joining the Bulldogs Gonzalez competed for the U.S. at the London Olympics, where she played in all six games and helped the U.S. to a 1-0 upset of No. 2 Argentina in group play. She also won a gold medal with the U.S. at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2011. That same year she won a silver medal with the U.S. at the Champions Challenge in Dublin, Ireland.

Gonzalez was a three-time All-American at UConn (first team twice, third team once), earning NFHCA Mideast Region Player of the Year and Big East Defensive Player of the Year (for the second time) as a senior. She was a four-time All-Region pick (first team three times, second team once) and a four-time All-Big East selection (first team three times, second team once). She also made the Big East All-Tournament team three times.

Gonzalez captained the Huskies as a senior in 2010 and was a finalist for the Honda Sports Award that year. She also captained the team in 2009. UConn made the NCAA Tournament all four years that Gonzalez was there, advancing as far as the national semifinal (2007). The Huskies went 19-5 in Big East play during her tenure, earning four conference championships.

A 2011 UConn graduate with a B.S. in coaching and administration (kinesiology), Gonzalez has coached at multiple camps and spent the spring of 2011 as a volunteer with UConn. In 2010 and 2011 she took part in community service through Friends of Jaclyn, an organization that pairs athletic teams with children with brain tumors to serve as a support group. 

Prior to making the U.S. National Team, Gonzalez played for the U.S. Junior National Team from 2007 through 2009. She earned a gold medal at the Junior Pan American Games in 2008.

Gonzalez was born in Peekskill, N.Y., and grew up in Mohegan Lake, N.Y.  She attended Lakeland High School, where she captained the field hockey and lacrosse teams. 

updated Oct. 10, 2012