Michelle Andre enters her 11th season as Rowan’s head field hockey coach in 2025 and has helped maintain the Profs’ status as one of the top teams in the nation, with three berths in the NCAA Semifinals.
Her coaching record at her alma mater stands at 142-46, with four consecutive NCAA appearances and four straight NJAC Championships. In her 10 seasons, Andre has led the Profs to five conference titles and six berths in the NCAA’s, while reaching the national semifinals three times (2022, 2021, 2018).
Andre guided the Profs to a successful second-half turnaround in 2024 as the team won 11 straight games after starting the season at 4-7 to finish with a 15-8 record. The nationally-ranked Profs won their final eight regular-season games, captured the two in the NJAC Championship and defeated #16 Ursinus in the NCAA First Round before ending the season with a loss to #3 Tufts in the NCAA Second Round. Andre and staff were named the Coaching Staff of the Year for the NFHCA Region IV and in the NJAC, marking her . The Profs also captured three of the league's top individual awards - Allie Palumbo (Midfielder of the Year), Tess Herman (Defensive Player of the Year) and Jenna Gray (Rookie of the Year).
Rowan’s 2023 squad extended the streak of NJAC Championships to three, and advanced to the NCAA Second Round. Andre and staff earned conference Coaching Staff of the Year honors as the Profs went 12-8 and were ranked #16 in the final NFHCA Poll. Julia Cavicchio and Vanessa DiDonato earned All-American honors, marking the fifth consecutive year that Rowan was represented on the prestigious team.
The 2022 season saw the Profs go 21-2 and finish the year ranked third in the nation. Rowan captured its second consecutive NJAC Championship and then made its second straight appearance in the NCAA Semifinals, while serving as the host of the championship. The program reached a milestone as midfielder Kristiina Castagnola was named the NFHCA Division III Player of the Year, becoming the first female athlete in Rowan history to earn national Player of the Year honors in her sport. The senior also achieved All-American and Academic All-American accolades, becoming the first in the program to do so in the same year.
The 2021 Profs returned from the year off due to the pandemic, and responded with the second-best season during her tenure, as they went 18-3, highlighted by a 16-game winning streak with six shutouts. The squad reached the NCAA Semifinals, won the NJAC title and finished the year ranked fourth in the nation. Rowan added two more All-Americans to its storied history - Kristiina Castagnola and Molly Gorczyca - while Castagnola was the Region’s Player of the Year and the NJAC’s Midfielder of the Year, and Gorczyca received the conference’s top defender award. Andre was named the NJAC’s Coach of the Year for the third time in her career while picking up the NFHCA Region IV Coaching Staff of the Year award for the second time.
The 2019 team went 15-5 and reached the NJAC Championship game, while achieving a final national ranking of eighth. The Profs earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for their second straight appearance. In 2018, Andre’s Profs broke the school record for wins in a season with a 22-1 mark, won the NJAC title and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the fourth time in school history. Andre was tabbed the conference’s Coach of the Year and Rowan was recognized as the Region’s Coaching Staff of the Year. Rachel Galante and Julie Johnson earned All-America First Team honors with Galante being named the South Atlantic Region Player of the Year and the NJAC Offensive Player of the Year, and Johnson taking the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
In 2017, Rowan posted a 13-6 record and advanced to the NJAC Championship Tournament for the seventh year in a row, following a 12-7 campaign in 2016 which saw Jacqui Rosati earn All-America Third Team honors and Bridget Boyle being chosen as the NJAC Rookie of the Year. In Andre’s first season back at Rowan in 2015, she guided the team to a 14-6 record, including a 5-1 NJAC mark, and had an All-America Second Team selection with Marisa Marini and the conference’s Rookie of the Year with Galante.
An All-American as a player at Rowan, Andre returned in 2015 to serve as the Profs’ sixth head field hockey coach. That followed stints as the head coach at Stockton University and the University of Rochester as she now owns a 237-157 record in her 21-year career.
While at Stockton from 2009 to 2014, Andre compiled a 42-68 record but oversaw great improvement in the program, as the Ospreys posted 28 wins from 2011 to 2013, exceeding the win total of the previous six years combined. Stockton earned a spot in the NJAC Championship in 2013 and posted a school-record 12 victories, as Andre earned the conference’s Coach of the Year Award.
Andre served as the head coach at Rochester for five seasons from 2002 to 2006 where she posted a 53-43 record. In her debut as a head coach, she led the Yellowjackets to a school-record 12 victories and the program’s first winning season in 10 years. Rochester improved on that mark with 13 wins in her final season and in those five years, guided two All-Americans and 12 All-Region honorees.
She also served as an assistant coach at Rowan during a successful run in which the Profs went 96-23, captured two NJAC titles (1998, 2000) and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament twice (1998, 2000) and the NCAA Quarterfinals four times (1999, 2001, 2007, 2008).
Andre was a two-sport standout in field hockey and softball at Rowan from 1994 to 1998, earning All-America and All-Conference honors in both sports. She was the named the 1997 NJAC Midfielder of the Year, the Field Hockey Club of South Jersey Division III Offensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-America. With 94 career points, including 38 goals, Andre was the Profs’ all-time scoring leader at the time of her graduation and still ranks among the top 10.
She earned similar honors as a third baseman for the Profs’ softball squad, being named to the All-America Second Team in 1996 and earning All-Region and All-Conference recognition three times each. Still ranking as one of the program’s leaders with a career batting average of .374, Andre helped the Profs to four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, and the regional title and trip to the national championship in 1995.
Andre, who was also an All-Region honoree at goalkeeper for the Rowan women’s lacrosse team in 1999, received her bachelor’s degree that year and then earned a master’s in higher education administration in 2002. She was inducted into the Rowan-Glassboro State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009 and was also honored with induction into the Pennsauken High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Originally from Pennsauken, NJ, Andre has previously served as the chair of the NCAA Division III Field Hockey National and South Atlantic Regional Advisory Committees and the NFHCA Division III Group Representative.
