Since being promoted to head coach prior to the 2013 season, Tess Ellis has led the Tribe to a renaissance and helped the program reestablish itself among the nation’s top programs.
Honored as the CAA Coach of the Year four times (2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019), Ellis has guided the Tribe to a pair of league championships in 2018 and 2023. Each season the Tribe not only earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but advanced with an opening round victory. Ellis was named the W&M Alumni Society Coach of the Year in 2018-19.
Ellis has led the Tribe to 95 victories in her 11 seasons, including an impressive 40-24 mark (.625) in CAA play. W&M has posted a winning season in six of the last seven years
Under Ellis, the Tribe has been .500 or better in CAA play in 10 of her 11 seasons, including each of the last eight. The Green and Gold has qualified for the CAA Tournament (only top four earn a spot) in nine of Ellis' seasons as head coach.
Ellis begins her 30th season at W&M this fall after serving four stints with the Tribe since 1993. She rejoined W&M’s staff as an assistant in 2010 and was promoted to Associate Head Coach in May 2011.
Ellis has coached three All-Americans during her head coaching career in Estelle Hughes (2018), Christie van de Kamp (2019) and Pyper Friedman (2023). A total of 21 Tribe players have earned NFHCA All-South Region selections, including six first team choices, over the last 11 seasons.
In five the last seven years, the Tribe has been represented on the United States U21 National Team by five different players (Erin Menges in 2017 and 2018; Christie van de Kamp in 2017, 2018 and 2019; Annie Snead in 2017; Pyper Friedman in 2021 and 2023; and Jayden Moon in 2023). Six of Ellis’s players have also gone on to compete in the NFHCA Senior All-Star Game.
Ellis has mentored five major CAA Award winners. Erin Menges (2016 and 2017) and Christie van de Kamp (2018 and 2019) won two CAA Defensive Player of the Year honors each, while Kimi Jones was the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2018. In total, Ellis has coached 35 All-CAA selections, including 19 first team honorees. Pippin Saunders, who played for Ellis from 2013-15, was one of three Tribe players in program history to earn All-CAA first team honors on three occasions.
W&M student-athletes have earned 16 CAA All-Rookie selections under Ellis. In total, the Tribe has placed a player on the CAA All-Tournament team on 23 occasions, including the CAA Championships Most Outstanding Performer in 2018 (Estelle Hughes) and 2023 (Lauren Curran).
Academically, W&M has produced 116 NFHCA National Academic Squad selections under Ellis, including a school-record 16 in 2021.
In 2023, the Tribe won its second CAA Championship, topping top-seeded Monmouth, 3-2, in double overtime. W&M also won its opening round match in the NCAA Tournament, downing NEC Champion Sacred Heart, 4-0, to advance to the round of 16. The Green and Gold finished the year at 12-9 marking the fourth time during Ellis’s tenure the Tribe won 12 games.
During the 2023 non-conference schedule, W&M upended then-No. 12 Wake Forest, 2-1. It marked the 12th win over a top-20 opponent for the Tribe under Ellis. The Tribe downed a trio of top-20 foes in 2022, including an upset win at No. 6 Liberty.
Ellis was honored as the CAA Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season after an outstanding 2019 campaign that saw the Tribe reach the 12-win mark for the third straight year. In addition to ascending to as high as No. 23 in the national rankings, W&M earned a victory against No. 5 Louisville to punctuate an eight-game winning streak en route to finishing the season with a 12-7 overall record and a 5-1 mark in league play.
The 2018 season was one for the record books, as W&M won its first-ever CAA Championship with a thrilling, 3-2 overtime upset of No. 14 Delaware in the conference championship game. Ellis' charges went 9-7 in the regular season, then went on a magical run in the postseason to win the conference tournament and play two games in the NCAA Tournament. The Tribe hosted a post-season game for the first time since 1979, and downed Monmouth, 3-2, in overtime to advance to a game against eventual NCAA Champion North Carolina in the Round of 16. Along the way, W&M played in an NCAA record-tying nine overtime games and won six of those games, tied for the second-most in NCAA history. Ellis also swept the Coach of the Year awards, winning accolades from the CAA, VaSID, and the W&M Alumni Association.
In 2017, Ellis was named the National Coach of the Year by SynapseSports.com after guiding W&M to a 13-7 record and a No. 19 national ranking. The Tribe had a 3.5 game turnaround from 2016, sixth-best in the NCAA that season. After opening the year 5-1, including a 1-0 road upset of No. 7 Michigan, W&M moved into the national rankings, and would stay there for the next nine polls, the longest ranked period for the Tribe since 2001, and the first time since 2004 appearing in the season's final national poll. W&M would go on to finish 13-7, the most wins since that 2004 season, and reached the CAA Championship game for the first time since 2002 and just the third time ever.
In her first two years, Ellis was named CAA Coach of the Year each season, becoming just the third coach in league history to earn the award more than once alongside former Tribe mentor Peel Hawthorne and nine-time NCAA Champion coach Beth Anders. Along with Anders, Ellis was the second coach in CAA history to win the award back-to-back seasons.
Ellis previously served at W&M for eight years as first assistant from 1993-2000, and another six years as volunteer assistant coach from 2003-08. From 2000-2003, Ellis served as the head coach of the U.S. Field Hockey Association's Under-21 and Under-23 National teams, as well as coaching the U.S. in the 2001 Junior World Cup and as an assistant coach with the National Senior team. During her time with the national Olympic program, Tess helped Head Coach Tracey Belbin develop the first Olympic residency program in Virginia Beach. Her duties with the program included daily training programs for both field players and goalies, and she had the privilege to train legendary U.S. keepers Peggy Storrar and Amy Tran.
An internationally experienced player, coach, and clinician, Ellis has been afforded many opportunities to travel the globe through her work in advancing the sport of field hockey. Other accomplishments over the years include training and traveling with the U.S. Olympic Team in the run up to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as well as coaching many junior travel teams. Tess has also served in a coaching and directors role for many U.S. development camps and in the USFHA Futures program.
Ellis was also a member of the Australian National Indoor team for eight years, and was on the Australia National Under-21 squad. She represented her state of New South Wales for 11 years in both indoor and outdoor field hockey. In 1993, Ellis founded the Williamsburg-based Colonial Field Hockey Club.
