Wittenberg Field Hockey Coach Marianne Beshara Resigns Her Position

Marianne Beshara

Marianne Beshara

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After three championships in four years, Wittenberg University Field Hockey Coach Marianne Beshara has resigned her position, Director of Athletics and Recreation Garnett Purnell announced.

Beshara compiled a 58-21 overall record, including an outstanding 39-9 mark in the NCAC. She earned NCAC Coach of the Year in 2000, 2002 and 2003, and she became the third Wittenberg field hockey coach to take home National Field Hockey Coaches Association Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year honors, accomplishing the feat in 2000, 2002 and 2003.

Beshara coached eight All-Americans, 23 All-Great Lakes Region players and 27 All-NCAC selections. Two Tiger players were selected to the prestigious North/South Senior All-Star Game in 2003, and a total of 14 were named NFHCA Academic All-Americans.

While at Wittenberg, Beshara served as Great Lakes Chair of the National All-American Committee, and also participated on the NCAA Division III National Field Hockey Committee. She served as the USFHA Head Site Coach for the Pittsburgh site of the National Futures Program, and she brought a Nike Field Hockey Camp to Wittenberg. She will continue as director of that camp in July 2004.

A 1999 graduate of Ohio University, Beshara earned All-West Region honors in 1998 as a senior forward at Ohio and All-Mid-American Conference in 1997 and 1998. She continues to rank in Ohio's top-10 career point leaders. She earned her masters while serving as a graduate assistant at Ohio in the 1999-2000 school year. Purnell said a search for Beshara's replacement will begin immediately.

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