Coaching by the Numbers: USA Field Hockey Analyst Brings Insight to Canterbury

When Caroline Koziol joined the faculty of Canterbury School at the start of the 2025–26 academic year, she brought with her not only a passion for history but also a deep commitment to field hockey. An analyst for USA Field Hockey’s junior development program, she now serves as Canterbury’s Varsity Field Hockey coach—bringing a unique, multifaceted perspective to the program on the hilltop.

Caroline began playing field hockey in fourth grade and continued through all four years of college. While pursuing graduate studies at Dartmouth, she was disappointed to learn that Ivy League rules do not permit graduate students to compete in varsity athletics. But after meeting with head coach Mark Egner, she joined the team as the graduate student manager—a role that would ultimately grow into something even bigger.

At the time, Coach Egner was working with the U18 junior development team for USA Field Hockey. Knowing Caroline’s interest in the analytical side of the game, he connected her with an opening for a videographer and data analyst within the organization.

It was an exciting but challenging new role. Though she had a solid grasp on the fundamentals of analysis, learning the appropriate coding programs to deconstruct a play was a challenge.

“For example,” she says, “a coach might ask, ‘How many double turnovers happen in our defensive 25 versus our attacking 25?’ We would review film, code each instance in R or Python, count occurrences, and then map that data to a visual representation of the field. From there, we interpret the data and present those findings to coaches with recommendations.”

It’s a complicated process, but it’s one Caroline has come to value, particularly in her ongoing work with USA Field Hockey’s junior development program and its U18 athletes.

At training camps and weekly meetings, she and a team of field hockey experts carefully analyze their teams’ performance and collaborate on broad, long-term projects across USA Field Hockey. She’s excited to bring that ethos and expertise—and close connection to top coaches from across the country— to Canterbury.

But it’s not a one-way exchange. Caroline says coaching on the hilltop has had a positive effect on her analytic style.

“Coaching has changed how I communicate and deliver information, and has added a layer of perspective and empathy to my analysis,” she explains. “I think there’s an opportunity to use these dual perspectives to further strengthen the field hockey program at Canterbury.”

A key element of Coach Koziol’s plan is emphasizing improvement year-round.

“If they’re not playing, they should still be learning—watching games, taking notes, building their field hockey IQ,” she says. “I treat it like an academic subject: you have to learn and practice the material. How do you take a mistake from a game and fix it for next time? My goal is to turn my players into analysts as well.”