Dina Rizzo’s involvement with Maryland field hockey dates back to her playing career from 1998 to 2001. She then served as a volunteer assistant coach in 2004 before returning to College Park in 2010 to serve as an assistant coach. She earned a promotion to associate head coach in 2013.
But Friday afternoon, the program announced Rizzo’s departure from the Terps sidelines as she accepted an assistant position at Princeton. Coach Missy Meharg promoted assistant coach Joppe de Vries to fill Rizzo’s vacancy, while adding Stefanie Fee as an assistant coach and Joann Engestrom as a volunteer assistant for the upcoming season.
“Dina has and always will be the consummate Terp,” Meharg said in a release. “She has developed into one of the strongest coaches in the country.”
Former midfielder Alyssa Parker, who graduated after last season and is set to join the U.S. Senior National Team after the Rio Olympics, expected Rizzo would be a candidate for other school’s coaching openings given her success with the Terps and as a player on the college and international levels.
When Parker learned Rizzo would join the Tigers, who hired Carla Tagliente as their head coach this summer, she said everyone understood the move. After all, Tagliente and Rizzo’s careers overlapped for three seasons as players in College Park.
“When everybody heard that, it just made so much sense,” Parker said. “Of course, this is perfect.”
Parker also reflected on Rizzo’s positivity. She remembers the team struggling early last season, and Rizzo’s message to “forget everything. Just go out there and have fun.” They also used to run together when Parker was stressed about school or field hockey.
Perhaps Rizzo’s most important contribution, Parker said, was her cohesion with Meharg and the Terps staff.
“It’s definitely nice as a player when your coaches are all united,” Parker said. “Especially Dina and Missy, like ying and yang. The other one knew what the other one was thinking.”
Now, Meharg will look to build that cohesion with her new additions.
While de Vries will continue to work with the team’s goalkeepers and penalty corner units in his new position, Fee will join the Terps as a defensive coach after playing for the U.S. in the Rio Olympics next month. She was a starter at Duke from 2008 to 2011 and has been on the U.S. Senior National Team since 2012.
“I look forward to using the momentum and excitement of the Olympic Games as I transition into such an amazing program,” Fee said in the release. “It is going to be a great year for the Maryland field hockey team, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Engestrom, meanwhile, comes to the program with experience from Temple as an undergraduate assistant.
They arrive a year after the Terps earned Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. The team lost to Princeton in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, but Maryland returns last year’s leading scorer, forward Welma Luus, and the 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, midfielder Linnea Gonzales.
