Dec. 8, 2016
NFHCA Release
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After leading the Penn State field hockey team to a successful 2016 campaign, head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss has been named the 2016 Front Rush / NFHCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year.
The honor joins a long list of career accolades for Morett-Curtiss. During her 30 years at the helm of the Nittany Lion field hockey program, she has been named the Region Coach of the Year eight times. She has also been honored as the Conference Coach of the Year on six occasions (1993, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016) with the most recent coming this season.
During the 2016 campaign, Morett helped Penn State reclaim its spot as one of the top programs in the nation. After an up-and-down 2015 season, the Lions rebounded in spectacular fashion. This season the squad won eight more games that it did a year ago, finishing the season 17-3.
Working with a young collection of talent, featuring six starters in either their freshman or sophomore seasons, Morett-Curtiss led the squad to a 17-3 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. During Big Ten action, Penn State went 6-2 and finished second in the regular season before advancing to the finals of the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament capturing their - conference leading - seventh conference tournament title.
The year was highlighted by eight victories over ranked opponents, including a 2-1 win against No. 3 Maryland on Nov. 6. A top-ranked unit on both sides of the ball, Penn State was top-five in the nation in several categories including Win Percentage (.895), Scoring Margin (2.58), Points Per Game (11.16) and Penalty Corners Per Game (8.26).
For their efforts, the Nittany Lions finished the season ranked seventh in the national RPI standings and fifth in the final NFHCA poll. Those were Penn State's highest end-of-season rankings since the squad's historic run to the National Championship Game in 2007.
Since returning to her alma mater as the head coach in 1987, Morett-Curtiss has achieved unparalleled success. She has led her teams to 25 NCAA Tournament appearances. A USFHA, NFHCA, and Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame member, she has amassed a 500-199-16 career record, highlighted by seven Big Ten Championships and seven Big Ten Tournament titles.
Under Morett-Curtiss' guidance, her players have earned All-American status 85 times, including Aurelia Meijer and Moira Putsch in 2016. Of those selections, 38 Nittany Lions have earned first-team honors during the past 30 seasons.
Along with Morett, four other coaches earned All-Region Coach of the Year honors. Delaware's Rolf van de Kerkhof earned the honor in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Harvard's Tjerk van Herwaarden was celebrated in the Northeast Region, Duke's Pam Bustin was honored in the South Region, and Louisville's Justine Sowry was named the top coach in the West.