Kelsey Kolojejchick - Field Hockey Coach - Bucknell University Athletics

Kelsey Kolojejchick

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
kk053@bucknell.edu
Phone:
570-577-1927

Kelsey Kolojejchick, a native Pennsylvanian who has reached the highest levels in her sport as both an athlete and a coach, was named head coach of the Bucknell field hockey program on Feb 22, 2022.

During her first season in Lewisburg, Kolojejchick won five games, three wins in Patriot League play, and earned an invitation to the Patriot League tournament. Under her guidance, Mackenzie Kile finished her career with 31 assists good enough for third on the all-time Bucknell list. Lily Neilson continued her profilic scoring with 14 goals, a mark that netted her Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year.

Four players made the All-Patriot League squad. Neilson and Kayla Kishardt notched First Team spots and Mackenzie Kile and Kira Leclercq grabbed placements on the Second Team. Neilson and Kishardt earned All-Region spots as well. Neilson was First Team and Kishardt slotted as Second Team.

Kolojejchick (pronounced kolo-JAY-chick) spent the previous four years as an assistant coach at Ivy League power Harvard, and she helped guide the Crimson to their first-ever NCAA Final Four appearance this past fall. The team finished 17-2 overall and 7-0 in the Ivy League, then knocked off Louisville and Michigan in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Northwestern in overtime in the national semifinals. In Kolojejchick's first season at Harvard in 2018, the Crimson also finished 17-2 and ran the table in the Ivy League, were ranked as high as sixth nationally, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.

In Kolojejchick's three seasons in Cambridge (the 2020 campaign was canceled due to COVID-19), Harvard compiled a 47-8 overall record and a 20-1 mark in the Ivy League. The Harvard coaching staff was named NFHCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in both 2018 and 2021.

Kolojejchick made her coaching debut as an assistant at Syracuse in 2017, when she helped the Orange win 12 games and make a run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Kolojejchick joined the coaching ranks after a stellar playing career at the high school, collegiate and international levels. A native of Larksville, Pa., Kolojejchick was a four-time All-State selection and two-time PIAA state champion at field hockey power Wyoming Seminary. She was named the National High School Coaches Association Field Hockey Athlete of the Year and was a three-time high school All-American

Following her senior year, Kolojejchick earned a gold medal at the Junior Pan American Games in Mexico City, and then she went on to become the University of North Carolina's first four-time First Team All-American. She was the 2009 NFHCA Athlete of the Year after helping the Tar Heels win the national championship. They made it back to the national final in each of the next three seasons and posted an 88-9 record in Kolojejchick's four seasons in Carolina blue. She finished her career ranked third in assists (48) and points (185) and fourth in goals (68) on UNC's all-time lists.

Kolojejchick was a team captain as a senior in 2012 and was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2011 and NFHCA South Region Player of the Year in 2012. She earned All-ACC and NFHCA All-Region accolades all four years, in addition to her four First Team All-America nods. She was also a graduate of the Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy, considered one of the nation's premier programs for leadership development among student-athletes.

After graduating in 2013 with a degree in communications, Kolojejchick's international tenure with the United States National Team took off, culminating with a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was part of U.S. teams that won gold at the 2013 World League Round 2 in Rio, the 2014 Champions Challenge in Glasgow, Scotland, and the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.

Kolojejchick succeeded Jeremy Cook, who stepped down after 14 seasons in which he led the Bison to the Patriot League Tournament every year and compiled 128 victories, tied for the most in team history. Bucknell finished 8-10 overall and 4-2 in the Patriot League last fall, one season removed from the program's first-ever conference title and NCAA Tournament win.