Carla Tagliente returns for her third season as an assistant coach for the Wolverine field hockey program. A prolific collegiate goal scorer, Tagliente primarily works with the offensive attack while advising the coaching staff on current tactical play being used at the highest level of the sport.

Prior to arriving at Michigan, Tagliente served three seasons as an assistant coach at Iowa (2003-05), where she revitalized the Hawkeyes' offense and helped them nearly double their goal output over her brief tenure. Tagliente has also stayed involved with the USA Field Hockey program as coach of the illustrious A-Camp and the High Performance Center Midwest Regional team. In 2004 and 2005, she assisted the U.S. Under-16 team and traveled with them on their annual tour of Holland. She was a volunteer assistant at Maryland from 2001-02.

In addition to her coaching credentials, Tagliente brings a wealth of valuable international and collegiate playing experience to the Wolverine program. A seven-year member of the USA Field Hockey women’s national team (1997-2003), Tagliente boasts 78 international caps and five international goals, the first of which she scored in her first international appearance -- vs. South Korea (1-0) at the 1997 Champions Trophy in Berlin, Germany.

Tagliente contributed to U.S. silver medals at the 1999 Pan American Games and 2001 Americas Cup and competed in the 2002 World Cup with fellow U-M assistant coach Tracey Fuchs. In her first season with the national team, Tagliente was named the 1997 USFHA Female Athlete of the Year. In the spring of 2008, Tagliente was elected to the USA Field Hockey Athlete's Advisory Council.

A collegiate player at the University of Maryland (1997-2000), Tagliente helped the Terrapins to a pair of NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances, winning the 1999 national championship -- with a 2-1 victory over Michigan in the championship final -- and advancing to the semifinals in 2000. She earned NFHCA All-America citations four times during her career -- three first-team honors (1998, ‘99, 2000) and third-team distinction as a freshman in 1997 -- and was twice named a finalist for the Honda Broderick Award, given annually to the nation’s top college field hockey player, in 1999 and 2000. Tagliente continues to hold Terrapin school records in career goals (73) and points (187).

Tagliente was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American (1999, 2000, '01), including a first-team pick in her final two seasons, and was selected to the NFHCA National Academic Squad all four years. In 2001, she was awarded with the Atlantic Coast Conference’s prestigious Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship.

A native of Cortland, N.Y., Tagliente graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing and delivered the commencement address for Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is currently enrolled in Michigan's Ross School of Business, where she is working toward an MBA degree.