Christine Kemp is entering her seventh season as the head coach of Wesleyan field hockey. Upon her arrival in the summer of 2019, she also took on the role of assistant strength and conditioning coach for Wesleyan, a position she still holds entering the 2025 season.
The 2024 season was the best in recent memory, highlighted by the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance while the Cardinals also hosted the team's first NESCAC Tournament home playoff game since 2005. Qualifying for the NCAA Tournament with an at-large berth, Wesleyan defeated Ithaca 2-0 at home in the First Round, advancing to the Second Round where they gave Williams all they could handle in a 3-2 defeat in Williamstown. The Cardinals went 12-6 overall and 6-4 in NESCAC play, with the 12 wins being the third-highest single-season total in team history and the most since 2000. Wesleyan was ranked Top 10 nationally in the NFHCA Coaches Poll for the first time in team history while Imani Ochieng '25 was named a Third Team All-American, becoming the 11th All-American in team history and first-ever Cardinal defender to earn the individual honor.
In her fifth season at Wes, the 2023 campaign saw the Cardinals complete its most-successful season in well over a decade. The Cardinals were ranked as high as No. 16 nationally, garnering a national ranking for the first time since 2010. Wesleyan defeated No. 5 ranked Tufts, 2-1 in overtime in Medford, signaling the first time the Cardinals defeated a Top 5 ranked team on the road in team history. Wesleyan earned a spot in the NESCAC Tournament for the first time since 2013 and had a single-season team record three First Team All-NESCAC selections.
The Cardinals achieved success right away in Kemp's tenure as she helped lead Wesleyan to five wins in her first season at the helm in 2019. Those five wins were the most for Wesleyan in a single-season since 2013 and among those five wins included a 1-0 upset of No. 5 ranked Tufts at home.
Kemp came to Wesleyan from Castleton University, where she spent the 2018 season as the field hockey head coach and led the Spartans to a regular-season record of 15-5 overall and 11-1 in the Little East Conference (LEC). In her first season as a collegiate head coach, Kemp's Castleton squad won the LEC regular-season championship as she was named the LEC Coach of the Year. She guided the team to a program-record 11-game winning streak while coaching three First Team All-LEC selections. Castleton was just 23-48 (.324) in the four seasons prior to Kemp's arrival, while the 15 wins in 2018 were the program's most in six years.
Before her stint at Castleton, Kemp spent five seasons at her alma mater, Skidmore College. While there, she helped lead the Thoroughbreds to an 80-27 (.748) record with three Liberty League Championships, two quarterfinal appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament (2014, '16), and one national semifinal appearance (2013).
Her college coaching career began at Bridgewater State University, where she served as an assistant coach form 2011-13 while pursuing her master's degree. During that time, the Bears compiled a 31-11 (.738) record and won back-to-back MASCAC Championships, while qualifying for the ECAC Division III Tournament both years, reaching the semifinals in 2011 and the finals in 2012.
Kemp earned her bachelor's degree from Skidmore in 2011 following a decorated four-year playing career. She was a two-sport athlete who excelled in field hockey, while also serving as a captain of the basketball team her senior year. In field hockey, Kemp was named a three-time NFHCA All-American, three-time Liberty League Player of the Year, and two-time NFHCA North Atlantic Player of the Year. She holds the school records for most assists in a single season (22) and most career assists (62). As a senior, she led the team to its first-ever 20-win season and a trip to the NCAA Division III Final Four. She also ranked second in the country in assists per game in 2009 and 2010, and was fourth in points and sixth in goals in 2010. In 2011, Kemp received the Skidmore Senior Athlete Award and seven years later, she was inducted into Skidmore's Athletics Hall of Fame.
Aside from her collegiate coaching experience, Kemp also served as the futures head coach and site director for USA Field Hockey in 2018, where she developed individual skills, team game and offensive and defensive strategies in a training-only environment for U19 players. She also assisted in the start-up of the Thoroughbreds Club in March 2017, which is Saratoga County-based club program for interested field hockey players ranging in age from 7-18 years old.
