Stanford women's field hockey head coach Roz Ellis is adding two new assistants to her staff as the Cardinal pushes to improve on a 7-10 season in 2025.

Ellis announced Tuesday, July 21, the hiring of Carissa Tambroni and Myrte Van Herwijnen ahead of the upcoming campaign.

"It's important to continue to open doors for young women in coaching," Ellis said in the university's announcement. "Carissa and Myrte have both displayed their passion, hockey IQ and desire to push Stanford to a national championship."

Tambroni fills the endowed Kristina M. Johnson Assistant Field Hockey Coach position. She spent the 2025 season as an assistant at Cornell, where she helped head coach Andy Smith lead the Big Red to an 11-4 record that included a 6-0 start. Before Cornell, she coached the Blue Stripe Field Hockey Club's U19 team after graduating from James Madison University in 2024.

Coaching runs in the Tambroni family. Her mother, Michelle Tambroni, coached Cornell's field hockey program from 1997 to 2003, recording 47 wins, the third most in program history. Her father, Jeff Tambroni, coached Cornell men's lacrosse for 12 years with three Final Four appearances and is the current head men's lacrosse coach at Penn State.

As a player at JMU, Tambroni appeared in 57 games over five seasons, making 39 starts. She was a 2024 All-MAC Second Team honoree, according to Stanford Athletics.

Van Herwijnen arrives from the University of Massachusetts, where she was a three-time Atlantic-10 Goalkeeper of the Year and helped lead UMass to the Final Four in 2024. Over 80 career games, she posted a 56-23 record with 23 shutouts and earned Second Team NFHCA All-America honors. A native of Huizen, The Netherlands, Van Herwijnen maintained a 4.0 GPA at UMass and was named a College Sports Communicators First Team Academic All-American.

The hires come after Ellis signed six recruits for the 2026 class in December 2025, mixing domestic and international talent. In November 2025, after the Cardinal's first-round ACC Tournament loss to Virginia, Ellis told The Stanford Daily the program was close to a breakthrough: "There's no shortcuts. If you want more, you're going to have to give more. But I think they're ready for that."

Stanford opens the 2026 season Friday, August 28, hosting UMass-Lowell at Varsity Turf. First strike is set for 4 p.m.