Niki Miller Named Head Field Hockey Coach

Staten Island, NY - Athletic director Walt Hameline has announced the hiring of Niki Miller as head coach of Wagner College's newly-added field hockey program, which will begin competing as a Division I varsity team starting in 2019-2020, with the program's inaugural game set for August 30 at Hofstra. Miller, a native of Washington, NJ, comes to Grymes Hill by way of Northeast Conference (NEC) rival Sacred Heart University, where she served as an assistant coach for the field hockey team under head coach Sydney Van Der Merwe for the last two seasons. "We are truly excited to welcome Niki to the Wagner athletic family," said Hameline. "Her impressive coaching background and accomplishments as a high-caliber player, combined with local recruiting ties, make her the ideal individual to lead us into the new field hockey era at Wagner." "This is an awesome opportunity, to begin my college head coaching career at Wagner College," said Miller. "Wagner has a foundation in place to be successful, in addition to excellent academics and a tremendous location, both huge assets in recruiting." At Sacred Heart, Miller played an integral role on a coaching staff that placed heavy emphasis on academics, resulting in a high level of performance by Pioneer student-athletes' in the classroom, achieving the second-highest overall GPA in NCAA Division I Field Hockey. Twenty of her 24 student-athletes would earn National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-Academic Team honors. Prior to embarking on her collegiate coaching career, Miller was a standout field hockey athlete at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. In her time there, she helped lead the Minutemen team to three Atlantic 10 Championships and three NCAA Tournament berths, having reached the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite 8 once. She was appointed captain of the team her junior and senior seasons and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament team in her final season.