Temple hires new field hockey coach

Temple’s athletic department has hired Marybeth Freeman, a five-time Division I title winner as both a player and coach, as the university’s new head field hockey coach, the department announced Tuesday in a press release.

Freeman coached Columbia University for five seasons prior to her hiring. She will replace former coach Amanda Janney, who resigned last month for a head-coaching position at Indiana University.

Freeman guided a Columbia team that went 12-5 last season, and tied for the program’s second-highest win total in its history. Prior to her time with the Lions, she won three national championships with the University of Maryland as an assistant coach.

“It’s an exciting time to be entering the Temple athletics community,” Freeman said in the release. “The alumni, the facilities and the energy surrounding Temple provide a great sense of pride and support throughout the campus. The recent successes the team has experienced will be an excellent foundation to start this new chapter for the program. I am eager to begin working with this talented group of women and for us to represent Temple field hockey the best we can on the field, in the classroom and within the community.”

Freeman graduated from Old Dominion University in 2002, helping the Lady Monarchs to national championships in 1998 and 2000 as a four-year starter.

She’ll take over a Temple program that finished nationally ranked with 14 wins in each of its past two seasons. The Owls reached the Big East Conference title game last fall, and lost to then-No. 3 Connecticut in a season-ending 4-1 defeat.