Penn State Field Hockey Coaches and Roster 2023

Penn State Nittany Lions coaching panel along with their position are stated in the table below.

Lisa Bervinchak Love - Head Coach

Lisa Love became the sixth head coach of the Nittany Lions on Feb 20, 2023. She previously served in the associate role for Char Morett-Curtiss.

Bervinchak is beginning her first season as the head coach at Penn State in her 30th year of service for the program. Her coaching career with Penn State started in 1994 as an assistant coach. Later on, she was promoted to associate head coach.

Penn State has gained national success since her arrival as a coaching staff for the team:

• 23 NCAA appearances, which includes three occasions to the national semifinals and two to the NCAA title game.
• Seven Big Ten Regular-Season Championships
• 30 NFHCA first-team All-Americans and 31 second-team All-Americans from the program
• 70 first-team All-Big Ten selections
• 6 Big Ten Players of the Year
• Over 300 Academic All-Big Ten selections
• Nearly 300 NFHCA National All-Academic honorees

Laura Gebhart - Associate Head Coach

Laura Gebhart was promoted to associate head coach in March 2023. She joined the Nittany Lions coaching panel ahead of the 2021 season.

Previously, Gebhart worked as a head coach at Bryant University. She also worked at the University of Vermont as a volunteer assistant.

Laura also played for Penn State's team and had a successful career. She became All-American four times including first-team honors in 2014.

She bagged first-team All-Big Ten laurels four times from 2011 to 2014 and also became a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American.

Gebhart ended her playing career at Penn State with 91 points off 23 goals and 45 assists. She helped the Nittany Lions to four straight NCAA tournaments.

Ayla Halus-Johnson - Assistant Coach

Halus-Johnson was selected as an assistant coach of the Nittany Lions in July 2023. She previously played for Penn State from 2009 to 2012.

Prior to joining the Nittany Lion's coaching team, she worked for William and Mary as an assistant coach for two seasons. She also served Colgate as an assistant coach for four years.

Johnson was an excellent goalkeeper during her playing career at Penn State. She became a second-team All-American goalie two times in 2010 and 2011.

Halus-Johnson was a first-team All-Big Ten. In 2010, Ayla became the national leader in save percentage, with a record of a stellar .826 mark.

The field hockey roster of Penn State University has established players like Mackenzie Allessie, Sophia Gladieux, Brie Barraco, and others.

The complete Nittany Lions field hockey roster along with their jersey number is displayed in the table below:

#2. Mackenzie Allessie

Allessie has been a member of the U.S. National Team in 2019 and 2022. She was named first-team All-American in 2020 and 2021.

Mackenzie became a second-team All-American in 2022. From 2019 to 2022, she was selected as First-team All-Big Ten, and First-team NFHCA All-Region four times in a row.

During her 2022 senior season, she led Penn State with 18 assists and 12 goals and helped the Lions reach the NCAA semifinals. Allessie ended the season with 42 points.

In a game against Virginia State University, Allessie made 2 assists in a 3-2 win. She scored 2 goals each against Delaware and Cornell University to win the matches.

In 2018, Allessie was the youngest athlete to be selected for the United States National Team and appeared in a game against Chile. She has played Pan Am games for Team USA in 2019.

#3. Sophia Gladieux

Gladieux was selected NFHCA National All-Academic Team in the 2021 and 2022. In the same seasons, she was named Academic All-Big Ten.

She became Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice in 2021. She also won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week thrice in 2021 and once in 2022.

During her junior season in 2022 at Penn State, Sophia led the Nittany Lions with 23 goals scored and 49 points. She recorded seven game-winning goals in that season. She was selected for first-team All-American and became Region Player of the Year.

In the course of her sophomore season in 2021, Gladieux was leading the team with a record of 18 goals and 38 points. She accumulated five game-winning goals during the season and became a first-team All-American, All-Big Ten, and Region Player of the Year.

#12. Brie Barraco

Goalkeeper Brie Barraco has been selected for the NFHCA National Academic Squad five times from 2018-22. She has won NFHCA Scholar of Distinction four times from 2019 to 2022.

Barraco was selected as Academic All-Big Ten in a row from 2019 to 2022. She has been named Big Ten Distinguished Scholar from 2020-23. 

Brie has bagged multiple records and awards in her Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman seasons. She became the Goalie of the Tournament at the 2019 Young Women’s National Championship.

Throughout her senior season in 2022 at Penn State University, she recorded eight shutouts in a 17-4 season for the Nittany Lions. Barraco recorded a phenomenal 91 saves with only 24 goals against during the NCAA semifinal season.

The Nittany Lions field hockey schedule for the 2023 season started with a match against the University of Virginia on August 25.

The Lions led the game initially, scoring a goal in the second regular period. But Virginia Cavaliers bounced back and scored 1 goal each in the next two periods, and the game slipped from the Lions' hand.

They played the next match against the American University team on August 27. The Nittany Lions won the thrilling match by 3-2 in overtime.

The first regular period ended without any teams recording any scores. In the second period, the AU Eagles led the game bagging a goal. Both teams notched up 1-1 goals in the following period.

The game tied in the 4th regular season after the Lions accumulated another goal and the match consequently entered overtime play. Luckily, the Lions succeeded in scoring against the Eagles in OT and won the match.

Complete schedule of Nittany Lions 2023

• August 25, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
  vs. University of Virginia
  Charlottesville, VA
  
  
• August 27, 2023, 1:00 p.m.
  vs. American University
  Washington, D.C.
  
  
• September 1, 2023, 7:00 p.m. 
  vs. University of California
  Berkeley, CA
  
  
• September 3, 2023, 3:00 p.m. 
  vs. Stanford University
  Stanford, CA
  
  
• September 8, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
  vs. Kent State University
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• September 10, 2023, 1:00 p.m.
  vs. University of Delaware
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• September 15, 2023, 5:00 p.m.
  vs. Rutgers University
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• September 17, 2023, 12:00 p.m.
  vs. Bucknell University
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• September 24, 2023, 12:00 p.m.
  vs. Syracuse University
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• October 1, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
  vs. University of Maryland
  College Park, MD
  
  
• October 6, 2023, 5:00 p.m.
  vs. Ohio State University
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• October 13, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
  vs. Michigan State University
  East Lansing, MI
  
  
• October 15, 2023, 12:00 p.m
  vs. University of Michigan
  Ann Arbor, MI
  
  
• October 20, 2023, 5:00 p.m.
  vs. Northwestern University
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• October 22, 2023, 12:00 p.m.
  vs. University of Iowa
  University Park, Pa.
  
  
• October 27, 2023, 3:00 p.m.
  vs. Indiana University
  Bloomington, IN