Coaching Staff

Kelly Klapcuniak | Assistant Coach

Newberry College Field Hockey coach Hannah Dave announced in February that Coach Kelly Klapcuniak has been named the Wolves’ new Assistant Coach.
 
Coach K. comes to us from Pennsylvania where she coached 7 years at Neumann University. In her 4 years as the head coach, Klapcuniak finished with a 500 record, had 2 All Conference players, 13 CSAC All-Academic Team members, 1 Atlantic East Player of the Year, lead 28 players to the NFHCA Academic Squad, 10 players to the NFHCA Scholar of Distinction Award, and was a NFHCA National Academic Team all years as head of the Knights. 
 
She also is a Level 2 USA Field Hockey certified coach that has worked multiple years for the USA Futures program. 
 
On top of those years working for Neumann and the Futures program, Kelly has also coached for several different club programs in the hockey hub of Pennsylvania. Those club programs include but are not limited to WC Eagles, United Field Hockey Club, and Shock. 
 
In addition to coaching, Klapcuniak has also worked in the college admissions setting and brings a wide array of knowledge to our recruiting process.
“We are excited to welcome Kelly to the Newberry family. She brings a lot of experience and new insight to our program”.
 
Klapcuniak spent her playing career at Slippery Rock University as a scholar athlete. She played and started in over 90% of her career games. At SRU, Coach K. graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Education with a specialization in Health and Physical Education.
 
“I am excited to come to Newberry and Coach with Hannah, who was the 2019 Division II Coach of the Year. She has an excellent program and I am excited to bring my talents, knowledge, and experiences to help build this competitive program”.

Liz Doherty | Assistant Coach

Elizabeth Doherty was been hired as assistant coach for Newberry's field hockey program in August 2019.

"I would like to thank everyone involved in the search committee for choosing me to become a member of the Newberry Athletics Department," Doherty stated.

Doherty was a four year starter on the field hockey team at The State University of New York at Geneseo. She finished with 28 career points, 11 goals, six assists, and 11 defensive saves. She was named SUNYAC All-Rookie and second team in 2013. She also made the SUNYAC All-Tournament team in 2016 while serving as captain for SUNY Geneso's championship-winning team.

Doherty served as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee during her four years at SUNY Geneso. She held several leadership positions throughout, establishing the importance of being dominant both on and off the field.

While pursuing her masters degree in Business Administration at Nichols College, Doherty was a graduate assistant coach for the 2017-18 season. During that season the Bison had their highest win total since 2012 and snapped a 35-game losing skid to Commonwealth Coast Conference foes. Doherty completed her Master of Business Administration Degree from Nichols in June of 2019, finishing with a 4.0 GPA.

Aside from Doherty's graduate assistantship as a coach, she worked with Element Athletics out of Northampton, Massachusetts. She was over the U14 Indoor Hockey team.