University of Hartford

Rhonwen Peters enters her second season as the inaugural field hockey head coach in 2026 after being hired on May 23rd of 2024.

In the first season in program history, Peters led the Hawks to a 3-12 overall record with a 0-7 Conference of New England (CNE) record. Rhonwen and the Hawks won the first game in program history on August 29th defeating Elms College by a 8-0 final. Under Peters, Hartford would get a single All-Conference selection as Kyra Benard was named to the 3rd Team. 14 Hawks would later be named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Academic Squad, while Mikayla Mathews was the programs first NFHCA Scholar of Distinction. Peters would also have a pair of Hawks named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

Peters came to Hartford after seven seasons as the head coach at American International College (AIC), where she is an alumna and all-time wins and games coached leader.  

Peters, who graduated from AIC with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology, was one of the captains of the 2010 squad that set the program's wins record with 14 victories, and was the first in Yellow Jackets history to reach the Northeast-10 and NCAA Tournaments. She played in all 78 games the team competed in from the start of 2007 through the 2010 season, starting all but one, scoring six goals and adding a dozen assists as a midfielder in the 2010 campaign. She was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll for both the fall and spring semesters in her junior and senior years. 
 
After graduating from AIC in 2011, Peters was named an assistant coach at Muhlenberg College in 2012, where she spent three seasons, helping improve the program in each year she was on the staff, culminating with the Mules making an appearance in the Centennial Conference Tournament for the first time in six years. She spent the next three seasons as the assistant coach at William Smith College, helping guide the Herons to back-to-back Liberty League Tournaments, winning the championship in 2015. During Peters' tenure at William Smith, the team compiled a 41-17 record.