New YAIAA coach makes leap from U.S. men's national team to high school girls field hockey

It would be hard to find a high school coach with a more impressive resume.

Assistant coaching stints at Syracuse, Bryant, Maryland and Towson. Head coach of the U.S. men’s national indoor field hockey team.

Oh, and Jason Mulder got his start by coaching a youth club team in his native South Africa.

So how did he make the leap from coaching a U.S. national team to coaching Susquehannock High School’s field hockey team?

It was easy, he said.

“It’s the love for the game that’s important to me,” Mulder said. “It’s important to help at the developmental grassroots level. But also learn what makes field hockey tick in high schools in America. That has always been an interesting wonder coming from college, what does high school hockey feel like?”

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At Susquehannock, high school field hockey feels like winning. A lot. Mulder inherited a team that lost just one division game in winning the last three Div. II titles.

The top scorer from that team is playing in college, but if the start of the season is any indication, the Warriors aren’t missing a beat. They are unbeaten in division play and have dropped just one game overall.

This is Mulder’s first time coaching high school field hockey, but it’s not foreign to him. He has lived in a two-field hockey coach household in New Freedom for the past five years and has followed Susquehannock’s success. His wife, Kati Nearhouse, is the field hockey coach at McDaniel College.

“It’s special having Kati around because she followed these pathways,” Mulder said. “From high school in Nanticoke to playing at Old Dominion and Syracuse and coaching. She’s helped me understand what the culture of high school sport is, how important it is for this community and this group of players.”

The regular season hasn’t been the problem for Susky in recent years. But they have hit bumps in district tournaments, and that’s something Mulder wants to change.

“The ladies have done really well, they want to play hockey at a high level,” he said. “They want to play quality hockey, to improve and go a little bit further in districts. They want to make a run this year.”

Mulder left the U.S. national team in April, largely because he wanted to stay closer to home because Kati was pregnant with twins. Those twins arrived on Aug. 18, just weeks after he was named Susky’s head coach.

Both twins spent time in the NICU before the first one was allowed to go home.

Sept. 3 was a huge day for Mulder. It was the day the second twin left the hospital, and it was the first meeting between the Warriors and recent top rival York Suburban.

The Warriors spent most of the game in the Trojans’ half of the field, peppering them with 15 corners and 16 shots in the 2-0 win. Chloe Franklin and Cara Zapach scored for Susky, which held the Trojans without a shot or corner.

Mulder was happy with what he saw in that game. The team play fit right into his overall plans.

“My goals with them is to build on the performance culture, help them really understand that competitive edge mentality,” Mulder said. “I want to have that rhythm on the field when we are defending, attacking, of really understanding their roles.”

Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @ShelStallsmith.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: U.S. men's field hockey: Former indoor coach lands at Pa. high school