Penn State wrapped up another national coaching search this past week, announcing that Hannah Prince is set to replace Lisa Bervinchak Love as the head coach of the Nittany Lions Field Hockey Team.
Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft confirmed in December, just days after wrapping up a nearly two-month football head coaching search that culminated in Iowa State's Matt Campbell replacing James Franklin, that Bervinchak Love's contract would not be renewed, ending her three-year run as head coach and her 32-year run as a part of the program's coaching staff.
Prince, who was named the seventh head coach in program history, became only its second new head coach dating back to 1987.
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β Penn State Field Hockey (@PennStateFH) January 14, 2026
The 33-year-old Gorham, Maine native has been coaching since she graduated from Massachusetts in 2014 as a four-year starter and three-time Atlantic 10 champion, and she had most recently served as head coach of the Atlantic 10's Saint Joseph's Hawks for the past four seasons.
Now her coaching staff for her first season in Happy Valley is quickly starting to take shape.
Hannah Prince announces Penn State associate head coach
On Friday, Mark Wadsley was named associate head coach of Prince's staff, reuniting the Wisbech, Cambridgeshire native and the coach with whom he had just spent three years in Philadelphia.
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β Penn State Field Hockey (@PennStateFH) January 16, 2026
βI am incredibly excited to welcome Mark Wadsley to Penn State as our associate head coach,β Prince said in a Penn State University release. βMark brings an exceptional wealth of knowledge at both the domestic and international levels, along with extensive experience and a proven ability to develop the growth of student athletes as players and people."
Wadsley's stint on Prince's coaching staff at Saint Joseph's began in 2023. He was promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach after just one season, and the Hawks proceeded to go on their first run to a national championship game in program history that year.
"We have worked extremely well together, share the same standards, and collaborate seamlessly in how we approach building a program," Prince continued. "Mark is driven to succeed, with a championship-focused mindset and an unwavering commitment to excellence that raises the standard every day.
"His presence will have an immediate and lasting impact on our student-athletes and the culture we are building here at PSU. I am thrilled to welcome Mark and his family to the Penn State community.β
The Hawks won the Atlantic 10 conference tournament championship and qualified for the NCAA tournament during all three seasons of Wadsley's time on staff, and in addition to their run to the national title game in 2024, they won another NCAA tournament game in 2025.
Experienced in both coaching and playing overseas, Wadsley had served as the Head of Performance at Repton Hockey Club in Repton, England prior to his arrival at Saint Joseph's. Like Prince, he is embracing the opportunity to make the move to State College.
βIβm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a well-respected academic and athletic institution,β he said. βCoach Prince and I are aligned in our expectations and vision for this program, and Iβm excited to help our student-athletes grow on and off the field. My wife Kerry (nΓ©e Shea) and I canβt wait to bring our three children to State College and join the Penn State community. We Are!β
Prince and Wadsley are aiming to build a winner at Penn State, which narrowly missed out on the Big Ten tournament in each of the past two seasons after having qualified in each of the tournament's first 30 years of existence.
The Nittany Lions have not qualified for the NCAA tournament since 2022, when they made it all the way to the national semifinals in what was Char Morett-Curtiss' 36th and final year as head coach.
Their current three-year absence is their longest since the NCAA tournament's inception in 1981, and their three-year drought without a postseason win is also the longest in school history.
In addition to Bervinchak Love, Penn State's 2025 field hockey staff consisted of assistant coaches Amanda Dinunzio, Ayla Halus-Johnson, and Ally Hammel. Penn State had not had an associate head coach since Laura Gebhart, who is now the head coach at Fairfield, in 2024.