FIELD HOCKEY COACH

Head Coach: Andrea Zurlo

Historically The College at Brockport has enjoyed a great deal of success in field hockey, and current head coach Andrea Zurlo has once again given the Golden Eagles a taste of that success by leading the team to at least eight wins in five of the last six seasons including 11 victories in 2008.

Zurlo has rebuilt a program that managed just 14 wins in her first three seasons and had not had a winning season in the five years prior to her arrival. Her overall record entering the 2009 season stands at 66-88 at Brockport and 90-104 overall at the college level. She surpassed Anne Fowler for second place on the all-time coaching wins list at Brockport with a 2-1 victory over Utica College in October of 2006 and is just eight wins shy of tying Linda Arena for the all-time lead in coaching victories at Brockport.

Zurlo’s best season was 2008, when she led the squad to an 11-7 record with three losses in overtime and a one-goal loss to nationally–ranked SUNY Cortland. The 11 wins were the most in a season since the 1994 team tied the school record with 14 wins in a season.

In the past three seasons, Brockport has posted 25 victories and eclipsed several school records led by two-time SUNYAC Player of the Year Amanda Pickard. Before wrapping up her career at Brockport in 2008, she set new school records for points and assists in a career as well as goals, assists and points in a season. She earned All-America honors in 2008 and was selected as captain of the North team for the annual North/South Senior All-Star game.

The Golden Eagles also established records for goals, assists and points in a single game with Kelly Henry scoring four times and freshman Jessica LoBue adding four assists in an 8-4 win over SUNY Oswego.

Zurlo is a 1997 graduate of Genesee Community College, where she earned an associate's degree in Elementary/Special Education. She continued her education at SUNY Geneseo, where she earned degrees in August 2003 in both elementary and special education.

Prior to coming to Brockport, Zurlo was the head coach at Geneseo for three years leading the Blue Knights to an overall record of 24-17 in the program’s first three seasons of competition. She also led the Knights to their first post-season berth ever as a qualifier for the NYSWCAA Tournament in 1999. Leading up to her coaching experience at Geneseo, Zurlo spent time as a referee for the Finger Lakes Field Hockey Association (1995-1997).

She has also competed in field hockey at the Empire State Games since 1992 including the 2001 Western team which won the gold medal. In 2002, Zurlo coached the Western team in the open division of the Empire State Games.

Zurlo is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa, the International Honor Society at GCC and also won the Outstanding Teacher Education Major Award.

Assistant Coaches

Nichole Blackwell

A 2002 graduate of The College at Brockport, Nichole Blackwell begins her fourth season with the Golden Eagles in 2009. She earned a degree in Physical Education with a concentration in Athletic Training.

She was a student athletic trainer as an undergrad and returned to Brockport after graduation as a Certified Athletic Trainer for field hockey, women’s volleyball, men’s lacrosse, softball, and men’s and women’s basketball. Blackwell has also worked for Nazareth College as an athletic trainer. Currently, she is a physical education teacher at Greece Athena High School and was an assistant athletic trainer at Brockport for the basketball teams and the men's lacrosse squad in 2008-09.