Philadelphia, PA - La Salle University Vice President of Athletics and Recreation and Director of Athletics Ashwin Puri has announced the hiring of Mackenzie Allessie as the Explorers' head field hockey coach.

"We are thrilled to welcome Mackenzie to La Salle," Puri said. "It quickly became clear she had everything we were looking for in the next leader of our program.  She has won as a student-athlete, competed at the highest levels of field hockey and achieved program success in two short years leading a Division 1 program.  We are confident Mackenzie will excel at La Salle leading our field hockey program."

Allessie arrives at 20^th and Olney after two seasons as the head coach at Saint Francis, where she led the Red Flash to the second-best two-year stretch in program history and a 24-13 record.

"I want to thank Ash Puri and his team for the opportunity to coach the La Salle field hockey program," Allessie added. "I'm honored by the confidence shown in me and eager to get to work as we move toward an exciting and successful future."

Under Allessie, Saint Francis tied the program record for wins in a single season with 14 overall victories and registered a program record eight wins in conference play in 2025. In 2024, Allessie coached SFU's first NEC Field Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the team's second NCAA Woman of the Year nominee in Dolores Zavaleta. In her two years in Loretto, Allessie mentored five All-NEC first-team performers and two All-NEC second-team performers.

As a player, Allessie was a standout at Penn State and Ohio State. She has also competed with the United States national team, winning the bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games in Chile after becoming the youngest player named to the United States National Team in 2018. She registered the most goals scored by a member of Team USA during those 2019 games. She was also named to the United States National Team in 2022.

Prior to becoming the head coach at Saint Francis, Allessie was the Alleycats Club and has also served as a volunteer assistant coach at Donegal High School. 

A 2023 graduate of Penn State University, Allessie was the National Female Athlete of the Year in 2019 at Donegal High School. She was also the PIAA Field Hockey Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018, and left as the national career leader in goals per season (124, 2018), career (351), and points (838).