Staci Carpenter will join the University of Maine field hockey team for her first season beginning in the fall of 2011 as an assistant coach. Carpenter will primarily work with the goalkeepers.

Carpenter, a 2000 graduate from Old Dominion University with a degree in Recreation/Leisure Studies, comes to the University of Maine with a wealth of field hockey knowledge and experience.

In 1999, Carpenter was an assistant coach at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach, Va. where she worked mostly with the goalkeepers. From 2000-01, she worked as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth University under head coach Dawn Hill.

During her playing days, Carpenter was named an Academic All-American in her freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University before transferring to Old Dominion University in 1996 where she played under Coaches Beth Anders and Susan Meyers from 1996-98. While at Old Dominion, Carpenter helped guide the Monarchs to three Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championships and three trips to the NCAA Division I Final Four. The Monarchs placed third in the nation in 1996 and were national runners-up in 1997 before capturing the 1997 NCAA National Championships. While at Old Dominion, Carpenter was selected to the CAA All-Conference team and was chosen as the All-Tournament Goalkeeper for the NCAA Division I finals while also being named to the NCAA All-South All-American team.

Carpenter was selected as a US Under 23 National Team Alternate in 1998 before being selected as a National Reserve Team Member for Team USA where she trained under Tracey Belbin 1999. Carpenter's playing career came to an end after she was again selected as a National Reserve Team Member under coach Belbin in 2001. Carpenter was selected to the Maine Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.

Carpenter attended Belfast Area High School in Belfast, Maine where she was a four-time letterwinner for field hockey coach Allen Holmes. While at Belfast, Carpenter was named to the All-Conference team, All-State team and was an AAU Junior Olumpian. Carpenter's high school jersey was retired at Belfast in 1995.

Carpenter, a Maine State Trooper since 2003, is married with two children.