WORCESTER—Holy Cross didn’t have to look far for its next field hockey coach.
Kim Cosenza, who spent the past five seasons turning Worcester Polytechnic Institute into a perennial postseason team, has been named head coach at the College of the Holy Cross, President for Intercollegiate Athletics Kit Hughes announced recently.
Cosenza arrives after a 2025 season that saw WPI reach the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship game for the first time in program history, earn a No. 22 national ranking in the NFHCA Top 25 poll, and secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The Engineers finished 15-6, including an 8-0 record at home, and advanced to the Sweet 16 after defeating Stevenson for the program’s first NCAA postseason win since 1989.
The move gives Holy Cross, a Division I program, a coach with deep ties to Worcester and a track record of building winners on and off the field.
“We could not be more excited to welcome Coach Cosenza to Holy Cross as the next leader of our field hockey program,” Hughes said in a statement. He cited her “strong history of building competitive and supportive teams,” connection to Worcester, and “holistic approach to leadership” as key factors in the hire.
Cosenza posted a winning record in each of her five seasons at WPI. Her teams also excelled academically, compiling a 3.59 grade-point average and earning NFHCA National Academic Squad honors and Scholars of Distinction recognition.
“I’m deeply honored and excited to serve as the head field hockey coach at College of the Holy Cross,” Cosenza said in the announcement. “Holy Cross is a special place with an outstanding academic reputation and a proud Division I tradition, and I’m eager to get to work, connect with our student-athletes, and build something truly special together.”
Before arriving at WPI, Cosenza served as head coach at Fitchburg State, Worcester State and Elms. At Fitchburg State, she posted a double-digit win total in her first season in 2018 and earned a home game in the Little East Conference tournament. In 2015, she guided Worcester State—her alma mater—to its first Little East Conference semifinal appearance since 2006, with 11 players earning NFHCA recognition. At Elms, she took over a winless team and led it to the 2012 New England Collegiate Conference championship game.
A 2009 graduate of Worcester State with a degree in health education, Cosenza was a two-sport athlete in field hockey and lacrosse. She earned a master’s degree in physical education in athletic administration from Springfield College in 2011, serving as a graduate assistant, and also played field hockey internationally for Club Pinjacker in the Netherlands.
Holy Cross, founded in 1843, enrolls approximately 3,200 undergraduates in Worcester and competes in Division I athletics.
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