Phoebe Hopkins will enter her third season as an assistant for the Slippery Rock University field hockey team on head coach Julie Swiney’s staff in 2017.
As the top assistant for the program, Hopkins plays an integral role in recruiting, scouting and player development at The Rock. In addition to having been a standout player collegiately, Hopkins has also gained a vast amount of experience on the international level as both a player and coach.
In her first two seasons at The Rock, Hopkins helped guide SRU to back-to-back six-win years; the win totals are tied for the 10th most victories in a season in the program’s 41-year history.
During her time at Slippery Rock, Hopkins has played a key role in the development of Rock All-PSAC honorees Megan McKay and Kayla Mack. McKay recently graduated from SRU as the holder of every significant statistical record at The Rock and Mack ranked 11th in the nation in defensive saves a year ago.
In the classroom, Slippery Rock has recorded the third highest team GPA of any field hockey team in NCAA Division II in each of the last two years while placing 36 student-athletes on the NFHCA All-Academic Squad with seven going on to earn NFHCA Scholar of Distinction accolades.
Prior to joining The Rock in the summer of 2015, Hopkins played professionally overseas in 2014 and 2015 in Ireland and Australia for a number of clubs. Most recently she was in Dublin as a member of the Old Alexandra Hockey Club from January-March of 2015. Before that she spent time with the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.
A native of Philadelphia, Hopkins attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and played four years of field hockey and two years of lacrosse for the Pioneers. She earned all-conference honors all four years in field hockey and served as the team captain as a senior. She received her bachelor’s degree in history in 2012 and was a member of the Dean’s List each semester.
Hopkins moved into coaching during her undergraduate career as a coach of the U-14 and U-16 teams for the Nomads Field Hockey club in Northampton. She also served as an assistant coach with the U-19 team.
Her start in coaching blossomed after she graduated and was named the head coach of the field hockey and lacrosse programs at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire, where she stayed from August 2012 through December 2013 before making the decision to continue her playing career in Australia.
While playing in Australia, Hopkins served as a coach for the Queensland University of Technology men’s field hockey club team and coached the Division I squad in the University Games in Sydney in 2014. She also served as a U-11 coach for Brisbane Representative Hockey.
When Hopkins made the move to Ireland after the 2014 season, she continued her coaching career at St. Andrew’s College by coaching the first year, U-14 and U-18 teams.
