BURLINGTON, VT – Vermont field hockey head coach Kate Pfeifer has finalized her coaching staff ahead of Saturday's season opener and it features two former Catamounts.
 
Patrolling the sidelines with Pfeifer this season as assistant coaches are Lydia Maitland '22 and Mel Hurlbut (UMass, '14). Lena Benwood '17 joins the staff as a volunteer assistant coach and UVM professor Bernice Garnett – who played collegiately at Penn – will be the faculty advisor to the coaching staff.
 
RELATED LINKS
2022 Schedule
2022 Roster
 
Maitland was a two-time America East All-Academic team selection for the Catamounts and served two seasons as a captain. The Shelburne native tallied a career-high five points last season as Vermont won ten games for the first time since 2007.
 
Hurlbut starred at UMass for four seasons and hails from Farnham, England. Most recently she was the head field hockey coach at Missisquoi Valley High School in Swanton, Vt. At UMass, she helped the Minutewomen to three Atlantic 10 championships and three appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Benwood ranks seventh all-time at UVM with 462 saves and sixth with 19 career wins between the pipes. She was an America East All-Rookie selection in 2014 and started 67 games during her four-year career in Burlington.
 
Garnett is an Adam and Abigail Burack Family Green and Gold Professor at UVM in the college of Education and Social Services. She played college field hockey for the Penn Quakers in the early 2000s.
 
The Catamounts open the 2022 campaign this weekend with a pair of contests at Yale University. UVM battles #10 Syracuse Saturday at 1 p.m. before taking on Sacred Heart Sunday to cap off the weekend. Both games can be seen on NEC Front Row for free.