Jess Jecko

Jess Jecko is an American field hockey player who has represented her country at major world tournaments and is currently the assistant coach for Dartmouth College’s hockey team. During her own college career, she helped the Syracuse Orange team to their first national championship — the first national championship ever won by a Syracuse women’s team in the university’s near-200-year history. She has also spent time in Ireland, working with the national team and playing in goal for Dublin’s Old Alex Hockey Club, the longest-running team in the country.

Jecko is one of twins. Growing up, she and her sister both wanted to become soccer goalkeepers but Jecko eventually diverted to field hockey. She joined Syracuse in 2012 and spent the next three years helping the team to become national champions, being awarded All-ACC and NCAA All-Tournament honours in the process. In 2014, she was selected for the national Under-21 side, and two years later, who chosen for the senior national side. She won her first Team USA cap in 2018, playing in the Four Nations Women’s Ibaraki International Tournament. Her brilliant debut performance there saw her crowned ‘Queen of the Game’. After a 2019 tournament game against Australia, she was named FIH Pro League Player of the Match.

Jecko’s coaching career has seen her relocate to Ireland to help coach their goalkeeping prospects. She then returned to the States and joined the coaching staff at Duke University in North Carolina before being lured away to join the staff at New Hampshire’s Ivy League Dartmouth College in June 2021.