New England College Women's Field Hockey

Gillis finished her first season at New England College.  She took the reins after an 0-19 season and achieved a record of 2-17, with 3 overtime losses.  Her passion for defense is evident in the improvement in goals against to the lowest number since 2012 and 50 goals less than last season. Gillis enthusiasm for player development has brought to NEC a North Atlantic Conference and ECAC Rookie of the Week in Taylor Daileanes.   Gillis joined the Pilgrims after two seasons as the Assistant Coach at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.  Her focus at Goucher was on the goal keepers, defense, and recruiting. While at Goucher, the team had its first winning season since 1995, finishing 9-7. In addition to her Assistant Coaching position she also played a large coaching role in the top ranked TNT Field Hockey Club before co-founding and directing Velocity Field Hockey, a club program that includes over 40 athletes. While coaching at Goucher, Gillis was the Assistant Director of NCAA Eligibility and Compliance at Loyola University for five years.  Prior to Loyola, she received her Master's degree from James Madison University in Kinesiology with a focus on Sports Management.  She served as the graduate assistant in the NCAA Compliance Office while there. Gillis holds a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from William and Mary and a minor in Psychology.  She was a member of the D1 Tribe's Field Hockey team as a goalie.   

Carly Sweeney was named the head coach of the New England College field hockey team prior to the 2017 season. Sweeney has 78 career coaching victories at NEC, which is the second most in program history, and carries a .561 winning percentage into the 2025 season. Sweeney took over a team that had been coming off five straight losing seasons from 2012 to 2016, and now has transformed the team with four consecutive winning seasons from 2021 to 2024, going 53-27 during that span while leading the 'Grims to back-to-back GNAC Semifinals appearances in 2023 and 2024. Coach Sweeney came to NEC by way of Frostburg State University in Maryland, where she coached for six seasons. During her tenure at Frostburg, Sweeney led the Bobcats to 38 victories and turned around a program that won just three games in the season before her arrival. She led the program to an 8-10 record in 2015, the most victories the program had seen in seven years. Before coaching at Frostburg, Sweeney was the head field hockey coach at La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, California for two seasons, where she led the Mavericks to the California Interscholastic Federation quarterfinals in both years and pushed the team to a 19-8 record in 2010. While in California, Sweeney also worked for USA Field Hockey as the site director for the USA Field Hockey Futures program. In that role, she supervised and evaluated staff, taught the USA Field Hockey curriculum to staff and athletes, and encouraged elite athletes to pursue higher levels of play within the Olympic development program. A 2004 graduate of Keene State College, Sweeney also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater under veteran head coach Amy Watson. Sweeney also holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Argosy University in San Diego.

Ritz is entering her first season as assistant field hockey and womens lacrosse coach at New England College. Prior to NEC Ritz served one season as Head Field Hockey Coach for Robbinsville High School (Robbinsville, NJ) where the Ravens finished 13-4 in the 2014 season competing in the Group II Central Jersey Sectional Final. Local newspaper, The Trentonian, honored to Ritz as Colonial Valley Conferences Coach of the Year. She has also served as an assistant girls lacrosse coach, and a substitute teacher for RHS.  Prior to Robbinsville, Ritz studied at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire earning her Bachelors of Science in Sport Management in 2014. She was a four-year member of the field hockey program helping the Eagles win the NECC Championship in 2010. Ritz served as a captain for three consecutive seasons. In addition to field hockey Ritz competed in four other collegiate sports for Daniel Webster College including: soccer, cross-country, softball and lacrosse. In 2014, she was honored as DWCs Female Athlete of the Year.  Ritz comes to New England College with goals to continue the development and success of the field hockey and lacrosse programs while earning her MBA in Sport and Recreation Management with a concentration in Coaching.