Kristen has been a central figure of the St. Thomas Aquinas College women’s softball program for parts of four decades and rates as one of the college’s finest all-time players.

The 2024 season, Kristen’s 11th in her second tour of duty as STAC’s head coach, was the most successful campaign in the 44-year history of the program. STAC broke the single-season record for wins with 33, captured its second consecutive East Coast Conference championship and reached the semifinal round of the NCAA East Regional. 

For her outstanding work, Kristen was named the ECC Coach of the Year for the third straight season.

In 2023, the Spartans won their first ECC championship and set the previous single-season record with 32 wins. The Spartans finished 28-21 in 2022 and won their first regular-season ECC crown.

The three straight record-breaking seasons with a combined record of 94-63 is the culmination of Kristen’s remarkable rebuilding effort. The team finished 2-36 in 2014 before Kristen took over the reins and began her work. The 2021 team finished 24-13 and reached the East Coast Conference championship round for the first time and the 2019 team set the previous program record with 25 wins. (The 2020 season was suspended due to the pandemic.) 

"Kristen has lifted our softball program to new heights of excellence," said Nicole Ryan, STAC’s Director of Athletics. "Kristen's experience as a highly accomplished player coupled with her technical coaching expertise has helped her achieve great success here at STAC. We are very fortunate to have such a uniquely qualified woman to direct and influence young women in competitive intercollegiate athletics."

Kristen’s coaching success follows an accomplished career as a player. After excelling at nearby Suffern High School, she came to STAC as the program’s most prized recruit and proceeded to register a brilliant four years as a pitcher and first baseman.  Her play for the Lady Spartans was nothing short of sensational. She pitched an amazing five no-hitters and the only perfect game in STAC softball history. Her teams in her junior and senior seasons were a combined 40-13.

She finished her career with some startling statistics. Her four-year earned run average was 2.31 and she batted an amazing .488 in the 1988 season. Kristen is the only player in STAC history to receive first team All Conference and first team All District in all four years of her playing career.

Her coaching career began immediately after graduation in 1990 when she served as the team’s assistant coach. She became the co-head coach in 1997 and was named the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year in 1998. In 1999, Kristen took time off from coaching to start a family and later returned as the pitching coach for the Lady Spartans in 2011 before moving into the head coach role again in 2015.

Kristen was also one of the region’s most respected private pitching coaches for softball players ages 7-22. More than 20 of her students received college scholarships. In addition, she led the Hudson Valley Hurricanes travel softball team to the prestigious 2014 PONY National championship in the 14U division as well as state titles in New York and New Jersey.

Kristen’s remarkable softball career has earned inductions into four Hall of Fames – Suffern High School Hall of Fame, Rockland County Softball Hall of Fame, Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame and the St. Thomas Aquinas College Alumni Hall of Fame.

Kristen received her B.S. in social science from STAC, went on to earn her teaching certification and holds a Master’s in education from Iona College. She lives in Suffern with her husband Keith and children Taylor, Kyle and Kasey.