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National team alum Alyssa Parker joins UVA field hockey staff

Chris Graham

uva athleticsVirginia head coach Michele Madison announced this week the hiring of Alyssa Parker as an assistant field hockey coach.

Parker played on the US Women’s Senior National Team from 2016 until she retired earlier this year after collecting her 50th international cap. As a member of Team USA, she competed in the FIH Pro League from 2019-20, including a ninth-place finish in 2019, and participated in the 2019 FIH Olympic Qualifier in Bhubaneswar, India.

“It brings me great joy to welcome Alyssa to the Wahoo family,” Madison said. “She was on everyone’s shortlist as the next great young coach. I am happy the challenge to work at UVA resonated with her as much as her value resonated with us. I admire her desire to emulate and be what some great assistants did for her. Welcome Alyssa. Let’s go win some games!”

Parker spent last season working as an assistant coach at Saint Joseph’s. She has also served as a club coach for Powerhouse and has seven years of coaching experience at elite camps at various NCAAI universities.

Parker played collegiately at Maryland, playing her freshman and sophomore seasons in the ACC, including winning the league title in 2013, before closing out her career with the Terps in the Big Ten. She was a two-time NFHCA All-Region honoree (2014-15) and won the Big Ten Sportsmanship award in 2014.

As a prep player, she led Glenelg High to two state championships was just the second player in NFSHSA history to score 100 goals and log 100 assists, finishing her high school career with 114 goals and 108 assists.

She was named the Varsity Sports Network’s No. 1 Field Hockey Player of the Decade for the state of Maryland and was inducted into both the Glenelg High School and Howard County Women’s Athletics Halls of Fame.

Parker graduated from Maryland with a B.S. in family science from the School of Public Health in May of 2016.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].